Tending the Garden

My back lawn is a mess.  There, I said it.  I could blame it on the dogs, or the sprinklers which stop working at least annually or the five kids or the fact that until this year, I have worked a lot during the gardening seasons.  The truth is simpler.  I stopped tending the garden.

It happens.  Life goes on, our priorities change, we lose sight of things that once mattered.  That's the pretty way to say it.   I saw things declining and dying and I did not act. I didn't act. Instead, I rationalized.  I blamed. I denied.  I ignored.  And that, my friends, is the crux of the matter.

It started innocently enough.  I am no expert on landscaping and when a drought -- albeit due to a mechanical failure -- killed a sizable group of plants, I wasn't sure when to replace them for optimal results so I never did.   I didn't trim back a shrub because I might not do it right.  I didn't pull up a couple of volunteer trees when they were seedlings because they are really hard to pull out and I didn't ask for help either.  Pretty soon, I became blind to the periphery of the back yard space.  Then I just stopped hanging out out there.  I take the kids out, sure, but then I'm busy.  I focused on my work which coincidentally heated up in the spring and fall -- prime gardening season in Texas.

Today it's jungle or wasteland, depending on where you look.  There are a few spots of beauty mixed in, but it's too early in the season to see them yet.  By Easter, we will have some flowers on the fairy roses and the purple sage.  The dwarf lilac tree will bloom and maybe some lillies.  I can "see" it now.  So like me to look on the bright side.

The salient point to ponder then, is this:  Am I or am I not a leader in my own life?  Where else in my life do I  ignore, blame, deny and rationalize?  What else is not being tended?  And how long will I sit on my hands, letting nature take its course?   Food for thought.