Ever Growing Ever Changing

Gardening taught me an important life lesson recently. Yes, gardening.

I am quite hopeless at gardening, but I do love a beautifully landscaped home. So, I took the plunge recently and revamped my landscaping. Now I’m the proud and slightly terrified owner of a thriving patch of lawn, majestic palm trees, and an array of flowers and other plants.

Neophyte that I am, I dove headfirst into research, determined to keep my little slice of paradise alive. I took to educating myself as best as possible about how to care for the wide variety of plants, each with individual needs. Concerning one species, a specific tip really caught my eye. I read that it was best to water it infrequently, but deeply. In other words, watering once a week for a long period was more favourable to the plant than watering it lightly every day.

That seemed counterintuitive. Wouldn’t a daily sprinkle be far better? Well, it turned out there is a clever reason behind this recommendation. You see,  when the plant is watered infrequently, once the surface-level water evaporates or is absorbed, the plant must dig deeper for hidden reserves. In its desperate search for water, it sends its roots ever deeper into the soil, creating a firmer anchor that helps to make it more resilient to drought and other maladies. Daily watering would make such deep roots unnecessary since the surface water would more or less be retained until the next watering.

This got me thinking: isn’t human life a lot like that?  If life is always sunshine and rainbows, that is, always comfortable, easy, and filled with material blessings, we would miss the opportunity to develop faith in God and strength of character. Our ability to forbear and to hope against all odds would become severely impaired. So, when major trouble comes, which it inevitably does, in the form of heartbreak, bereavement, illness, or financial hurdles, etc., we would no doubt be at a complete loss about how to weather these storms. On the other hand, if ease and comfort are interspersed with moments of difficulty, want, or care, then we are forced to grow our faith, unleash our creativity, and develop the grit necessary to withstand any challenge. These are the roots on which a resilient, mature, and formidable character is built.

I’ve come to understand that difficulties, as uncomfortable as they may be, are essential for growth. They’re the lessons life throws our way, helping us to develop the skillset and mindset we need to thrive and move to the next level of our growth and development. In investing all our energy into wishing away the challenges, we could miss the lesson and remain trapped in our comfort zone.  Living to our fullest potential demands that we learn the lessons at each stage of our development. Only then may we advance to the next stage in this short and sometimes brutal race called life.

Perhaps gardening is not so bad after all.

Tell me in the comments about some of the lessons you have learnt from the most unlikely sources.