I love gardening for many reasons, and often find parallels between steps in the yard and steps in my own life and career.
For the last three years there has been one spot along our path where the monkey grass keeps dying. There are many others thriving within inches of this spot but for some reason, whatever is planted here keeps dying.
So this spring it’s time for a new strategy. Rather than putting money in the ground only to have it die, I decided to dig deeper and get to the root of what’s going on underground. I’m eager to see if this will yield to lasting growth in this spot.
Isn’t life so similar? We often find certain areas in our souls and behavior that keep producing negative results. Maybe we overreact, are mean or impolite, jump to wrong conclusions, or go through the same heartaches over and over again. When this happens, I’ve learned that often it’s not what’s visible that needs help, but the ground underneath. Deeper issues of my own soul tend to rear their ugly heads and I need to go deeper to get to the root cause.
There’s no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed of taking the time to get our ground in order. It’s beautiful growth we’re after, in the garden and in life!