And now a word from a garden...

Four years ago I wrote some devotioinal little things I called "Plant Ponderings" that I emailed to folks. I'm going to post them here for those of you who either can't recall what I wrote, really enjoyed what I wrote then...as well as for the new folks who have never read these.

My creative writing juices are tapped out right now. I don't get it. Something is in the way...I dunno...I do know that I've been very overwhelmed...so maybe I'm just using a lot of my energy to tread water right now...keeping my chin up. At any rate, revisiting my garden was refreshing...I hope you enjoy your visit...

"Walk with me into my garden...let's see what's planted:

I want to take a moment to talk to you about houseplants. I have one plant in my home that I think I've taken care of for about 15 years. At least! With an occasional watering (and an even more infrequent dusting) it seems to do just fine. Doesn't ask too much of me. All in all, it's a pretty easy green thing to have around. Just the way I like it.

A few years ago I received a gorgeous African violet as a gift from some co-workers in my office. While I had never taken care of a violet before, still I thought, "How hard can it be? It's a plant, right?" and I treated it as I treated my other houseplant. Badly. Oh, it did alright those two days at my office; but when I took it home, I think I had that violet in my house a total of 39 minutes before it shriveled up and died. Died a violent, violet death...you might say. And you know what?

I decided then and there that I wouldn't mess with violets. Ever. They were too hard to take care of! Too "high maintenance" for me. I'd stick with the easy houseplants, thank you very much. Besides, African violets weren't meant to live in Central Illinois anyway, am I right?

One day I was visiting someone who actually raised violets. As we admired them, I said, "Why do you bother with these? They're so....needy! You have to take such special care and mess with them all the time, don't you?"

She smiled, "Yes, they require a good deal of care...but see how beautiful they are? And I don't have too many, just a few...so it's not so bad."

Which leads me to my pondering for today: Is there a plant in your life that's a little on the 'high maintenance' side? Do you avoid taking the time to care for it's needs? Have you even neglected one to the point where it just 'shriveled up'? My friend didn't have a whole roomful of violets...she only had a few. As she cared for them, she benefitted from their beauty. Maybe you need to look closely at the plants in your garden.

And while I'm thinking about it, don't neglect the easy-going plants in your life either! While they seem to take care of themselves, they still enjoy being appreciated. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to a certain houseplant. Why don't you go talk to yours? From what gardeners tell me...plants like that a lot.

Every plant could use a good word. Thanks for coming to my garden today."