So for the past few weeks I have been off of work on 'Paternity Leave' and trying to get things accomplished on my list of chores or tasks. If I am completely honest with myself, and others, I have learned that having kids constantly around you makes accomplishing things a lot more difficult. I told Anna that here I have all this time off and thought I would get so much done with all this free time only to realize that it isn't that free. I find myself working from sun-up to sun-down most nights and get very little accomplished. If I can get one task done a day....SUCCESS! No wonder Anna would feel so productive on days when she could get a few things done and I, shamefully would come home from a long day at work and think...well that shouldn't have taken you the whole day. SHAME ON ME!
A large part of me taking paternity when I did was that it would afford us some time to get our yard and home into shape for summer and for hosting family and friends for Maggie's upcoming baby blessing later this month.
Yesterday I woke early and the girls and Anna had gone to swimming lessons so I decided to get the last of the annuals planted. I sat in the silence and heavenly peace, the kind that you only recognize when you are constantly surrounded by toodlers day in and day out with their screams of delight mixed with their whines and cries of life's injustices (mainly that you won't let them have a treat for the 100th time today...oh the hummanity) and don't even get me started on the hundreds of questions they pepper you with non stop. Enough of that...back to my peace and quiet. As I placed and planted the annuals in the flower bed I found myself talking to them as any self respecting gardener does. I placed an allysum plant at the edge of the bed in between two rocks and as I scraped out the limited soil I found myself saying "I know this doesn't seem like the most ideal spot but trust me when you bloom here you will make such a difference you will be a showstopper". As I placed some statice plants far in the back of the bed behind all the rest I said "You will have to grow very tall to be seen but I have chosen you for this specific spot because I know you and I know you have it in you and will provide such a backdrop for this bed to shine". I found myself mixing and matching and seperating flowers from those that they had 'grown' up with and putting them with 'strangers' and saying "I know you don't want to be seperated but these flowers although different then you are perfect in their own way. Learn to get along because you are going to be spending you life together now and much better that you enjoy each other then fight your whole life".
Laugh if you must, I admit writing down my musing even makes me feel a little foolish but as I spoke to my plants both verbally and in my head I was stopped in my tracks as I saw a loving Heavenly Father speaking to each of us individually before we came down here to earth. To some he would point to a hard part of the world and say this is where you are going only to feel his child shrink in his arms stepping back into safety of his warmth. Lovingly he might say "I know this doesn't seem like the most ideal spot but trust me when you bloom here you will make such a difference." He may show others of his children spots that are full of successful beautiful people all making their way and say this is where you get to go only to see their shoulders fall as self doubt would take over their small frames as they began to compare themselves to those around them. He may squeeze their shoulders and say "You will have to grow very tall to be seen but I have chosen you for this specific spot because I know you and I know you have it in you". Lastly he may say...this is the earthly family in which you will be born and as eternal beings, we would see our family with all their inperfections and their shortcomings and may look into our loving Heavenly Father's eyes with pleading tears not wanting to leave his perfect state only to hear him say "I know you don't want to be seperated but these children of mine although different then you are perfect in their own way." and he would open our eyes to see our families as he sees us.
Yes, I saw God in gardening yesterday and I am thankful for the moments in my life when my loving Heavenly Father teaches me and shows me glimpses of heaven here on earth. I felt much like Moses and the burning bush here in my own Oak Hollow.
