Life Lessons From The Garden: Seize the Opportunity

Since I am an elementary school counselor and I'm off during the summer, I have a slightly different routine during the summer.  It goes something like this:

1. Quiet devotional time
2. Yoga stretches
3. Write
4. Answer emails, marketing, planning
5. Lunch
6. Gardening, Household chores/Errands 

Whatever I do, I try not to change the order of the first three items.  Writing is a top priority and I find if I let it slide too far down into the business of the day, it disappears altogether.   One day recently,  I broke my own rule.  I moved #6 into the #3 slot and writing got bumped down to after lunch.  Not a great plan generally but here's why I did it;  It rained!! This is especially exciting because it has been dry as a bone with 100 degree heat around here and my garden has not only been suffering but also neglected. Goodness knows, it is hard to work with rock hard dirt and heat stroke temperatures.  However because of the rain and the very high temperatures later in the day, I knew if I didn't get outside to work in the garden, I'd miss the opportunity. 

Before I did this I promised myself that writing would follow close on the heels of the gardening and I made sure I clearly identified the parameters of what I hoped to accomplish in the garden.  I knew that I had a lot to accomplish and it is so easy to lose track of time in the garden!  The other thing that I did, I decided that not only would I be gardening but I would be doing research at the same time.  How is this possible?  Well, I think that gardening is a great place to learn the lessons of life.  So much of what makes sense in gardening makes sense in life.  So here is a lesson gleaned from my research:  Seize the opportunity.  Just as getting out in the garden early was a good idea for today, it’s also a good idea to seize the opportunities in life in general. Here's some examples:


In June of this summer I attended the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project Summer Institute.  This is a national writing program that has been available for years in various colleges around the country for teachers who would like to develop not only better ways to teach students to write but to develop their own writing ability as well. I learned of the program this past school year when the assistant principal at my school informed me she had attended a few years ago and recommended that I consider attending.  I was nervous about it at first since as a school counselor I don't directly teach writing.  However, once I was reassured that they were interested in teaching all teachers to incorporate writing into their lessons, I SEIZED the opportunity and put in an application.  It is one of the best educational programs I've attended in a long time.  Not only did I learn great techniques but I also meet some inspiring peers who I hope to stay in contact with.  Could I have easily let this opportunity slid by?  Of course.  I could have  never gotten around to applying for the program or I could have decided that it would take up too much of my summer or a million other things.  


I've not always been so good at seizing opportunities.  Previously, I tended to wait for someone to call me, suggest something to me or just generally knock me over the head with a two by four before I'd move ahead on anything.  I thought of it as "waiting to make sure it was the right thing to do".  Learning to seize the opportunity has really been a lesson learned over the years. Sometimes I've waited forever for an opportunity to drop into my lap when I should have been creating opportunities.  For instance, I wrote several children's stories about Wyatt The Wonder Dog and then kept them in a drawer for about ten years hoping someone would come along and tell me how to get them published.  Not until, I got inspired by Dan Miller of 48days To The Work You Love did I consider self-publishing and actually DOING something rather than waiting. As Dan says, the best way to predict your future is to create it! 


I talk to people everyday who are waiting and wondering what direction to go in with their lives while opportunities are calling all around them.  Sometimes much like today in the garden, you just have to recognize that now is the time and make arrangements to SEIZE the opportunity.  Sometimes it means breaking out of  a routine to seize an opportunity that is knocking at your door.  Sometimes it means creating opportunities.  


What about you?  Are you seizing the opportunities around you?

    

In the Garden

Last Sunday in church, we sang the hymn, In the Garden, written by C. Austin Miles 1868-1946. I have always loved this hymn, probably because working in my garden is one of my favorite activities. On the perfect gardening day, I would have no other commitments, the weather would be sunny and mild, the ground would be soft and I would spend hours planting, weeding and relocating my plants. Just like in the hymn, many of the moments when I have felt closest to God have been in my Garden. A well known poster says," Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten". I often feel everything I need to know about life and God, I learned in my garden. Here are some of the things I've learned:

• In order to flourish, plants must be pruned and thinned periodically. When I initially began gardening, I never did this. Clipping back a plant that is growing satisfactorily seems counterproductive but is actually necessary to have the best results. Dead heading flowers is essential to producing new blooms. Otherwise, the nourishment goes to parts of the plant that are no longer developing. Aren't our lives like this as well? How often do our lives become cluttered, strangled even, with unnecessary activities and things. Sometimes eliminating those can provide the nourishment needed to fuel the other real priorities in our lives. It can mean the difference between simply growing and producing excellence.
• Sometimes a cutting that seems withered and lifeless when planted in the right enviroment, can flourish. A friend gave me a cutting for a wandering yew plant. By the time I got around to planting it, it looked hopelessly wilted and withered. As I planted it in my hanging basket, I really expected that I would be soon throwing it away. However, once it was nourished and watered, it flourished and today is a beautiful lush plant. What talents or abilities are languishing in our lives for lack of the right encouragement and attention? Most people use only about ten percent of their capacities. Energy focused on these underused areas can often produce amazing results.

• Beginning with the end in mind and working regularly toward accomplishing that is critical. Before even starting with the gardening details, it is important to have a plan of the finished product and a list of the steps to take to achieve that end. Similarly, failure to evaluate and set priorities in our lives will result in a life over run with unimportant and insignificant tasks if we aren't careful. We get the cleaning done but neglect our relationships. We put in too much time at work and neglect our spiritual lives. It is easy to lose perspective of the bigger picture as we respond to the many demands of our lives if we don't have an overall plan. Taking time out to establish and maintain that vision can make a big difference.

I recently read a narrative about the inspiration which resulted in Austin Miles writing the hymn In the Garden. He imagined Mary in great despair, weeping, coming to the tomb where she was surprised as she encountered the risen Lord. Remember how she first thought he was the gardener? Remember how when she recognized him she called out, "Rabboni"? What did Mary learn from her visit to the garden? What can we learn from time spent in reflection and prayer while tilling the earth? Austin Miles' hymn says it all: "I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses...."