Welcoming Weeds

When I was a new gardener, we moved into a home that had no landscaping. There was a slope that was about 20 feet by 50 feet, and I decided to make the entire area into a perennial garden. There was plenty of space to grow weeds.

It used to take me two full days on my hands and knees, in the spring and the fall, to pull those weeds out out. Some of that time, I'd be cursing those plants and their strong root systems. But over time I came to feel grateful that they were there demanding my attention. See, nothing else would take me into my garden in quite the same way.

I never would have sat in the garden, eye to eye with the plants, for six minutes let alone six hours! I would never have known that the airspace over that garden was busier than O'Hare, had I not sat there and heard the bees, hummingbirds, and dragonflies go by. I never would have learned that gardening can be a form of meditation, being in the moment, letting even thought drop away, as I concentrated on just one thing… pulling weeds.

There is a poster in my office by Brian Andreas that says " Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life."

I believe that some of those angels are weeds. They are the problems and difficulties that help me to see things with new eyes. They are the situations I wouldn't choose that help me to experience life fully. I may still grumble about them, but I've learned the value of welcoming weeds.

Read more about lessons from the garden at my blog: < A HREF="http://www.wholelifegardening.com" >www.wholelifegardening.com< /A > and my website: < A HREF="http://www.gardenlady.com" >www.gardenlady.com< /A >