This week we have been blessed with beautiful, warm weather with more on it's way. Knowing that up where I live the weather can still turn on a last blast of cold before Memorial Day, I take advantage of the current sunshine and summer-like temps and spend as much time as I can outside as I begin to whip this new garden of mine into shape.
When people ask me why I put such a high price on a garden, I tell them that it feeds my spirit, as well as my physical self, and the health and well-being of my non-human neighbors. From the butterflies, to the birds, to the bees, this garden feeds the spirits and bodies of many. When the first leaf of lettuce appears, and the first grape tomato turns red, my body gets a return on it's investment. When the lavender graces my eyes with a splash of color and my nose with that heavenly scent, my whole spirit is rewarded. Yes, I must spend a great deal of my time, my energy, my body (oh, those sore, unused winter muscles) and, yes, even my money, but what I get is a dividend that is more valuable to me than money - a happy, nurtured spirit. I feel at one with Creator and everything that lives and breathes on the earth. Who can put a value on that?
What do you value? What are you willing to spend to have the life you want? What's your "currency?" Is it money? Time? Health? Relationships? What will you do to feed your life? When I garden, I know that even if a storm should flatten all my hard work, the sun will come up again tomorrow and the garden will renew itself over and over, season after season. The return on this investment is endless. I'd say that's a pretty good return on my time and money, wouldn't you? How many of us can say that about the investments we make in the kind of lives we want to live?
So how will you spend your "currency" today? My wish for you is that you choose from your heart, not your wallet, and that your returns are boundless! As for me, my investment today is to free the tulip beds from the first wave of dandelions!
And so it is.
