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Inch by inch, row by row

Someone bless these seeds I sow. . .

'Til the rain comes tumblin' down.

-- David Mallett

We plant a garden with faith, never knowing exactly what the harvest will bring. We end to those aspects of gardening which we have some control over, planting good seeds in rich soil, in straight rows, the right distance apart.

We weed and fertilize, and we tie up our tomato plants.

We may pray for rain, but we never know if we'll get too much or too little.

We can't control the wind or rabbits or bugs or the strongest strains of weeds.

Yet most of us don't let these things keep us from planting.

With this same sort of faith we can tend to ourselves.

Though we don't know what each day will bring, we can plant the seeds in ourselves to meet most anything.

We can rise each morning determined to give what we have.

We can't plant the seeds for others, and we can't keep the storms from coming.

The beauty is, we don't have to.

Hurried and worried until we're buried

And there's no curtain call,

Life's a very funny proposition, after all.

-- George M. Cohan

Often, when we involve ourselves in a whirlwind of activities, plans, and expectations, we push ourselves so hard that we don't derive any satisfaction from success.

We need to face our limitations. We can't do everything we want. Even when we can do a great deal, if we overextend ourselves, take on too much, we will not enjoy ourselves, and there is no reason not to enjoy our work.

Eternal Love by John Monteleone - Dead Link

Our activities are part of what we are. If we choose to live in a frantic hurry, worrying about the next moment instead of this one, we'll miss life entirely. Part of self-knowledge is learning to pace ourselves to our own speed, learning to set goals we can attain for each day.

When we do this, we can say, "Now that I've completed this, I don't have to do one more thing to feel worthwhile."

In grief, healing helps us make peace

with the meaning of death, which cannot be understood

except as an unknown part of life.

-- Alla Bozarth-Campbell

It is a sad occasion when we must say goodbye to a loved one or pet who has died.

But grief is the only way we can come to understand our losses, and sharing grief helps us experience it more fully.

Perhaps we wish to grieve for something else we've lost, like fading youth, a job, a possession, or a habit we had come to enjoy.

It's natural to feel grief over things like this, too.

We can share stories and good memories with other grievers, and give free reign to our tears.

Sometimes it seems the more we talk, the sadder we feel about our losses, but when we share these feelings with others, we turn our losses into gain.

We heal ourselves, pay tribute to those we grieve for, and share an intimate sense of loss with someone else.

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07/31/2011

Flower dividers from Pat's Web Graphics