There is something magical and special about planting seeds and seeing them grow into beautiful plants that give and give and give!
I have a small garden. Some days, I convince myself it’s too tiny to make a difference. But then, it surprises me with an abundance of food, leaving me in awe and regretful that I didn’t plant more. Recently, my garden taught me a lesson that went far beyond soil and seeds—it reminded me of the importance of nurturing my own dreams and passions.
Sometimes I plant a number of seeds at the same time, in the same place… in case the others don’t grow then at least the others have a chance right?
Well, after eating a morojwa aka snot apple aka African chewing gum, I planted a tree from its seeds and 2 grew! I was ecstatic! I did not want to disturb them so I let them be. Their pot was not exactly big so I did know that I would need to transplant both of them at one point. That time arrived a few weeks ago when I transplanted the one I thought was the biggest therefore the healthiest… The beautiful big green leaves it had swivelled, giving me heart palpitations as I was worried it would die! I figured I would at least give it a fighting chance and fed it some combination of LAN I had bought for the lawn and continued watering it but it did not change… more anxiety and stress as I really did not want it to die! Then after a week I saw a small green leaf coming out at the top, amid the dead brown leaves that were still stressing me out! I kept watering it, afraid to look at it too much in case it didn’t like it or approve! I looked at it again when I was watering it and I was pleased that it did seem to be getting stronger!
It made me ponder on other things in my life that I had stopped watering and feeding… my passions, my dreams, my hopes and aspirations! I always seem to be so busy, too busy for my own dreams and hopes and aspirations. So busy that I spend little time on them, I can’t remember the last time I spent time feeding and watering any of my passions and dreams! Such a shame! If I had been doing that regularly, where would I be now? How big and strong would that passion and dream tree be?
The lesson for me is that I need to start feeding and watering my passions and dreams. I should not let them die. The more I feed and water them, the stronger they will be and the happier and stronger I will be. Gardening is one of my passions so I will continue with that and see what other lessons I can get from it.
What’s one dream or passion you’ve neglected? How can you start ‘feeding’ and ‘watering’ it today?