How does your garden grow?

When we were born, we were all blessed a garden. Our gardens started out empty, with beautiful, rich, warm soil. Almost immediately we started planting seeds. In the beginning these seeds were things like "Mommy loves me" and "I love Daddy." Those kinds of seeds flourished right away and became big strong plants. For most of us, those plants are still very strong and healthy.

When we became a little older we started planting different kinds of seeds. "I love riding my bike!" and "Ice cream is yummy!" are common childhood varieties. But, sometimes seeds like "Daddy is mean" and "I hate my teacher" got thrown in. In most cases, these were just little weeds that tangled around the roots of the bigger plants but didn't flourish and eventually died away.

As older children, more weeds got thrown in the mix. Stronger more prolific weeds. "Jimmy is ugly." "Amy is a big baby." "I really hate math." We even started to toss a few seeds into other peoples gardens. "I hate you, Jimmy! You're ugly!" Tossed in just the right way, in just the right spot, at just the right time, that seed would start to grow in Jimmy's garden, and there was even a chance that Jimmy would start cultivating that plant himself! You received some seeds in kind. "I don't want Anne on my team, she's too short." was one of mine. And, I, did indeed help that plant grow.

As teenagers, the weed seeds started to outnumber the good seeds significantly. And, throwing seeds in other peoples gardens became a popular past time. We somehow got the idea that the more weeds we tossed in other people's beds, the stronger our flowers would grow. By now our gardens were growing very big and tangled. Occasionally, we would help our friends pick some of their weeds, or at least help them prune them. "I don't think you are ugly at all, Jimmy. I think you are cute." And sometimes friends would help us in our own gardens, as well. By this time we were sowing a variety of seeds. Some weeds were annuals and died after one season ~ "My history class is a complete drag." Some were perennials and came back every now and again ~ "I am really depressed." Some were even evergreens and became a permanent part of the garden ~ "I will never be good enough." Whatever kind of seed, we didn't seem to think twice about what we were throwing in someone else's garden.

By the time we were young adults, we had become pretty inattentive gardeners. We were too consumed with bigger things like working and paying bills and starting new families (and new gardens). We rarely did much gardening at all, but we tossed seeds into our gardens, and others, willy-nilly almost everyday. Some were as simple as "I hate it when it rains." or "My neighbors are slobs." Some were much stronger seeds, that look like flowers but are in fact some of the most destructive plants in the garden. "If I want to succeed I need to make more money." " I need to be like her for people to like me." "I want what he has." Sometimes our gardens overlap other peoples gardens and our weeds start to infect their plots.

As adults, we eventually find that we have created a big, over-grown mess. Here and there is one of the strong healthy flowers poking through, trying desperately to stay alive. For me, it's time to do some weeding. And, time to take a really good look at the seeds I'm throwing around.

What do you grow in your garden?

How does your garden grow?