Spring reminds us to keep on growing

The inspiration for this writing came to me as I pulled a bunch of weeds from my prospective flower garden. While I waited for conditions to be right for planting flower seeds, the weeds flourished. It’s what they are designed to do. Weeds attract pollinators, feed insects, provide beneficial ground cover to prevent erosion and even provide healthy food and medicine. 

I admire their tenacity. Weeds are disliked by gardeners, so they are rudely pulled and tossed aside as useless, as if their life has no meaning. But the weed knows it has much purpose, and so it grows. And gets yanked out. And grows again.

People are designed for growth, also, but the process is way more complicated for us. Along with the basic instructions built into our DNA, we have thinking and reasoning capacity, and the desire to interact with others. Therefore, we are constantly faced with emotions, distractions and conflicts that demand us to make decisions that affect our growth process. Yet our survival instinct drives us, not only to stay alive, but to thrive. We laugh, we cry, we hurt, we heal, we fail and we succeed. And through it all we learn and grow and keep moving forward.

Like the weeds in our gardens, we hold onto life and continue to stubbornly grow. We’ve all known times of darkness and dormancy, like the plants experience in winter. Those times when you wonder why you are here and if your existence has any meaning. But we all keep on seeking seasons of new growth because, when they occur, it is totally exhilarating.

When you resolve a problem, make a discovery, have a creative inspiration, ace an interview and get the job, win a sports competition or get her to say yes to your marriage proposal, these successes happen because you’ve grown in wisdom or experience and become the person you are supposed to be, in order to achieve what you want. And we get to keep growing. And each success in any endeavor increases our faith and confidence that there will be more successes. What a ride!

Gardening teaches you all about growing. If you’ve hit a plateau for some reason and are not sure what you are supposed to do with the rest of your life, plant a vegetable or flower garden. As you prepare the soil, sow seeds, watch plants sprout, fertilize and pull weeds, pay close attention to the cycle of life happening before you. Compare the process to what is happening in your own life.

Notice that each seed of a certain variety looks the same. But when those seeds sprout, each plant will display its individuality. It’s the same with people. Our seeds look similar, but oh, what variety there is in human beings. Not only in the way we look, but in all the unseen or subtle differences in personality and creative talents … differences that go much deeper than our finger or voice prints that are used for personal identification. As you observe the plants in your garden, remember that you are even more unique and capable of all of the possibilities in all living things.

Grow because you can. Grow because it is what you were designed to do. Grow because it is how to find out who you are and why you are here. Grow because you deserve the happiness it brings.

Now ponder this: Listen to the lyrics of “I Want to Live” by John Denver.