A few days ago, I convinced myself to spend two and a half hours outside pulling weeds out of my yard. I don’t know why; I hate gardening. I hate the bugs, the dirt, the straining of my back, and I’m always petrified that I’ll come across a snake.
My husband, Bob, loved gardening, and he was wonderful at it. I never liked gardening, and I’m really bad at it. However, I don’t want all of his hard work on our yard to disappear among stubborn and profuse weeds, so I want to do the best I can.
Because of my inexperience, I don’t recognize all of the different plants Bob used to design his landscaping. I really don’t know which ones are weeds and which ones are flowers and bushes that just haven’t bloomed yet. Even some of the weeds have a bit of a bloom, so I have to be careful to not pull up the flowers while tending the weeds.
The truth is, I did pull up some of the flowers by mistake and left a huge weed that had spread out and put down deep roots. Because it was so healthy and prolific, I presumed that the brown, apparently dormant chrysanthemum was the weed, and the bright, green, shiny-leafed stalk was something Bob must have planted a few years ago. If I had gone a little slower and methodically with a modicum of research, I would not have been fooled by the shiny leaves. I was so desperately intent on recreating Bob’s hard work, I didn’t take the time to discern the original flowers from the “pirate” plants.
Often, when we’re anxious to start something new, or restart something that has been halted, our enthusiasm takes over and we grab onto the thing that has pushed itself front and center or is the shiniest. I call weeds pirate plants because they’re strong, invasive, they take over, and we don’t have to do anything to make them grow. They grow so fast they end up choking out the flowers, our dreams, before they have a chance to blossom.
Putting wisdom to work, taking time to nurture and nourish our dreams, and not letting the pirates hijack our focus from the goal is the only way to stay true to who we are.
When this pandemic of 2020 eases up, and as society begins to venture out, plant some seeds, and grow some dreams, we need to not let ourselves become distracted and choked out by the prolific weeds. I’m sure that this is neither the first nor the last time our journeys will be detoured or delayed, either personally or collectively; life is never a straight line from beginning to end. We must always hold tightly to what is valuable to us, and not let the adrenaline of new or long-awaited opportunities choke out the seeds of our dreams.
Check out the weeds before accidentally yanking up the flowers. Weeds may rush to the front, but flowers acquire their beauty gradually as they rise out of the dark.
And dance on.
Grace Notes 