A Lesson From the Potato Patch

Life gives us many opportunities to learn valuable lessons, and to practice those we think we’ve already learned.  I’m grateful for that because it keeps me looking out for new insights, and new ways of approaching attributes that are difficult for me to master.

As a family, we have been facing some particularly difficult bumps in the road.  One is a huge “hill” for me, so I’ve appreciated being able to get outside this past week to do some physical labor.  In fact, as I was removing weeds from a section of garden this morning, I thought I would come in and write a post about the blessings of physical exertion, and its ability to relieve stress, give us time to think, and help us sort through problems, seeing them with a new and more healthy perspective.   However, as I dug and pulled weeds,  I began to notice some healthy looking plants,--“volunteers” from last year’s potato crop.   Removing the weeds revealed one, then two, then several more at intervals in the plot I was clearing.  I wondered if they might amount to anything, so I came in to the computer and did a little research.  The opinions were varied, but several people wrote that their experience had been favorable, and they enjoyed watching the miracle of new growth from a crop they thought had been exhausted the past fall.  One person wrote: “If I can get volunteers to grow and produce fruit, I don't care what they are. I will consider each and every one a gift.” 

I’m leaving my little volunteers in the patch.  As I continue to clear the area, I will keep a sharp eye for others that might be poking up through the soil, each with the promise of producing a few fruits to compliment the dinner table and give nourishment at summer’s end.   

As I’ve taken time to appreciate my volunteer potatoes, I can’t help but think how analogous they are to life (as so many lessons from nature are).   A year ago I planted, tended, and nurtured my potato seed, and enjoyed watching my plants grow.  My harvest wasn’t as bountiful as I hoped it would be, but it did yield enough to warrant the time expended, and it was a joy to see the verdant green garden area—especially pleasing in a desert climate.

How like growing a garden is the experience of “growing” children!   As parents, we did our sowing, nourishing and tending many years ago.  We put in countless hours encouraging healthy growth and development, always hoping those lessons would bear fruit and bring an abundant harvest.  As the years have passed we have often experienced great delight at the results.  However, like all parents, we have experienced times when the harvest has not produced the yield we would have wanted.  We find ourselves, even with grown children, sometimes laboring to pull weeds that were never successfully eradicated.  It can be discouraging, and can make us think that our harvest, no matter how successful in some respects was altogether lacking in others.

I’ve always tried to be mindful of my efforts as a parent, but about the time I turned 50 that process of evaluation took on a whole new aspect.  After all, my children were now grown and my influence—for good or bad—had reached its terminus.  The time for parenting was over—Right?   NOT!!  In the ensuing years, I’ve often found myself mentally “walking through our family garden and pulling up "weeds," apologizing for an error here, a misstep there.  The follies of my youthful parenting have often come back to haunt me, but my children are amazingly forgiving and, I’m happy to say, I’m far more likely to be hugged than censored.  As  I have pulled the weeds in our “family patch”, it has sometimes been tempting to forget my successes, and to believe my husband and I have experienced all the harvest we will ever realize from our efforts.  However, I strive for objectivity, and today’s experience in the back yard helped me to find some.  Here it is:  If we are careful in our weeding, clearing and examining, we may find that our labors from the past have not fully exhausted their potential to yield fruit. There may yet be “volunteer” attributes of good popping up in our family patch, just awaiting the opportunity to bring forth their fruits and give us a new measure of joy. 

As we examine the work we’ve done, we may feel discouraged and think our opportunities to influence and nurture are over, and it is merely time to clear the patch, till it under, and call it a day.  If we do, however, we might step on and annihilate potential good that is trying to come forth.  And it probably will come forth with our continued encouragement and love.  Even grown children who may not be manifesting the fruits they are capable of can still flourish under the influence of sincere concern and genuine affection. 

As parents of grown children, sometimes love and prayers are all we have to offer, but aren’t they better than the heavy treading of criticism and judgment that will, for sure, annihilate the potential that still exists?  Surely, with faith and thought, our continued and care-filled efforts can still bring forth results.  Our original labors of planting, nurturing and growing our family are not always fully realized in the initial season of harvest.  Sometimes we must watch for “volunteers” and be willing to put our faith in their ability to produce additional fruit—perhaps later than expected, but just as appreciated-- for that fruit is a gift, and can be just as prized as the fruits from the first harvest.  Maybe, in some ways, even more!

Letting Go of Drama to Contribute to the World

I frequently contemplate the concept of gratitude and how it adds joy and value to life.  Yet, there are times when I feel blocked in my ability to take hold of life's goodness. I want to appreciate that goodness, acknowledge it, and share it with others through my skills and talents.  In spite of that sincere desire,  one of the greatest obstacles I've faced in my quest to get the most out of life is an inability to forgive past hurts and abuses.  I think all of us, to some degree, face this challenge.  We've all been hurt, we've all suffered because of someone else's thoughtlessness, betrayal, or intentional unkindness.  So, what can we do?  If our objective is to have a fulfilling, productive life, it doesn't take long to see that holding on to grudges and hurts seriously obstructs that journey.  How can we let go and move ahead in happiness?  I found this short video that will, perhaps, be helpful in removing the barriers you face as you seek fulfillment.  I hope you will get as much out of it as I did:

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/gg_live/science_meaningful_life_videos/speaker/fred_luskin/forgiveness_requires_gratitude/

 Scroll down the page on the above link to find other videos on love and forgiveness.

Let Down Your Bucket

I’ve been away from my blog for quite a while.   My apologies, but sometimes life gets busy, and frankly, I was very tired as I tried to recover from the flu while getting up several times a night with Lynn.  It was a rough road!  There were days when I was pretty discouraged! However, as I’ve traveled along my life path these past couple of months, and gotten my strength back, it is easy to see that during this time I have been blessed with some awesome gifts.  Among them:

-Lynn’s blood pressure has stabilized at a healthy range, generally reading about 120/80.  Since his diagnosis in 2003, it has always been far too low, and we have tried all kinds of things to get it into a more healthy range so that he wasn’t passing out or falling.  Anything that worked at all only worked for a few hours then needed to be re-administered.  It wasn’t correcting the problem, and his BP was always erratic.  What a blessing that we’ve found something that works!

Lynn has also been sleeping more soundly, and generally has more stamina.  Since he’s sleeping better, I’m also getting more rest—and I do love my rest!!

Spring in Utah has been rainy and the lawns are vibrant green.  I am totally enjoying that gift while it lasts, since it is all too uncommon for this high mountain desert.

I’ve enjoyed lunch out with friends, and respite through the services of volunteers, neighbors, and family.

I’ve had a lovely massage—and I’m looking forward to another one.

I’ve received greeting cards expressing friendship, love and appreciation.

   I’ve heard some wonderful stories that have uplifted and encouraged me to stay hopeful, happy and grateful.  Usually, when the hospice chaplain visits, she shares a story.  This is one she related some weeks ago:

  LET DOWN YOUR BUCKET*

A party of shipwrecked sailors was drifting in an open boat on the Atlantic Ocean.  They had no water, and were suffering agonies from thirst.  Another small boat came within hailing distance, and when the shipwrecked mariners cried out for water, the newcomers said, “Let down your bucket.”  This sounded like cruel mockery.  But when the advice was repeated several times, one of the sailors dipped the bucket overboard—and amazed, drew up clean, fresh, sparkling water!

For several days they had been sailing through fresh water and did not know it.  They were out of sight of land, but off the estuary of the Amazon, which carries fresh water many miles out to sea.

"Closer is He than breathing; nearer than hands and feet,” wrote Alfred Tennyson.  We live in the presence of God.  Let down your bucket.

  

*Emmet Fox, Around the Year With Emmet Fox—A Book of Daily Readings, 132.

When life leaves us weary, it is easy to feel discouraged by the demands that surround us.  Too often we believe those demands define, and will always define, all our life.  However, God never leaves us alone.  If we take a few moments to assess our blessings, we will see that we are surrounded by the life refreshing waters of friendship, love, and nurturing.  All that is good comes from God, and He has sent us many gifts through friends, family, and sometimes strangers.  Gifts enough to fill our bucket and renew our strength!