Though today’s high temperature is forecast to be 66 degrees, it’s chilly out in the garden. The sun has withdrawn and a wind remains; the wind rarely stirs the large wind chimes so I know it’s strong when they’re ringing—and it’s not because I bumped into them.
Still, it felt good to be outdoors again doing some pruning and cleaning up. It’s easy to fall into considering gardening tasks to be a chore when I’m involved in getting other work accomplished or in a hurry to get out the door but today I’m reminded of why I enjoy gardening. In addition to continually discovering new things, I find that I can pray and think as I garden.
Today, I pruned away more of the leggy, Victoria Blue salvia stems with their sometimes shriveled leaves in order to make way for the new growth pushing up from the roots*.
*When I write about clearing out the old to make way for the new, I sometimes worry that someone will apply such principles to people—those who are “old” or otherwise considered to be “unproductive” but I never mean such things. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12). The other day a person who has traveled the world told me, “Nowhere but in America--and maybe Europe, are ‘old’ people looked down upon—everywhere else in the world they are honored for their wisdom.”
Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:21