Go Ahead and Plant

I did a lot of planting last year…

…both literal and figurative. I planted a lilac bush at the corner of the house, dreaming of the day when its fragrance might waft in from the guest room window just above where it sits.

The autumn before, my daughter and I spent a perfectly crisp day dropping dozens of daffodil and hyacinth bulbs into the dirt running along our stone wall. And in the spring, I added creeping phlox beside the bulbs, envisioning countless tiny blooms someday spilling over the sides of the wall.

We put up an arbor leading to the patio and planted purple clematis to climb up either side. My grandmother always had clematis climbing up something at her house, and the fragrance takes me back to her gardens every time.

With every addition to our yard and gardens,

we planted something in our hearts and lives too. Last year held a lot of stressful changes as we navigated decisions about how to plant and grow our family.

I often questioned if we were doing what was best and if we’d ever see anything grow from all the seeds we were dropping into the soil of our lives.

Today, as I sit here tapping out these words, we’re a bit buried in snow from yesterday’s nor’easter. We ended up with a foot of snow and the kids are having a marvelous time digging and playing in it today. Whenever I peek out at them shoveling and rolling in all that fluff, I can’t help but marvel at all the life just waiting beneath the surface.

My daffodils, hyacinth, and phlox still sit resting beneath the cold along the stone wall.

Come spring, my clematis will again climb that arbor and my hydrangeas, mere brown sticks at the moment, will be weighed to the ground in blue, white, pink, and green balls of blossoms.

The air will be rich with the smell of lavender, lilac, and a dozen other things all mingled together. I can’t wait.

And today, even though spring is months away,

I’m thankful for every seed planted, both in the yard and in our family. Nothing blooms all the time, but I see life blossoming all around us every day, with every decision to go ahead and drop another seed into the ground. Good things will grow, each in the right season.

Go get your shovel; you won’t regret it.