I gave myself a pep talk in my journal last night. "I'm going to be joyful while I'm gardening tomorrow. I really am." But I didn't feel very joyful. In fact, whenever I thought about weeding on the morrow, I felt sluggish, and awful and sad.
It's dangerous to work in the garden.
And scary.
The morrow dawned with an azure blue sky and the smell of freshly cut grass...I did some chores, a bit of math...then pulled myself outside.
And...
I nearly had a heart attach when the first worm slithered away from the open sunlight. I guess I have some toughening up to do.... but it's a good thing there weren't any big spiders. I would've been paranoid for the rest of the summer.
Aside from those:
There's these prickly plants waiting to stab your feet with a million tiny needles.
I was trying to stage a rendezvous with one of those prickly plants that actually aren't prickly and just look like they are...you know...those? The ones....Well. I'll stop trying to explain. ;) Anyways: I just finished clicking the pictures when I turned around....and stepped on a real one. lol:)
And there's snakes. I'm praying all last year's snakes have died off and there won't be anymore this year.
Not to mention the heat...and the blisters...and the scratches... and, when it rains, the mud...and, when it doesn't, the hard-packed dirt that hurts your feet.
But, in spite of these many perils...the weeding session actually turned out to be great.
Handy Hint: Weeding, dishes and any other job can be terrifically fun if you can manage to strike up an interesting conversation with somebody. (This truth applies to nearly everything but jogging. I abhor jogging. You can barely get enough air to breathe, let alone speak to your neighbor.)
Moral of the story: Fun hides in unexpected places. Even the most boring jobs can be made fun. Just use your imagination - and count your blessings instead of slogging through the dirt/boring hours/unpleasant situation. Pray, decide to have fun, and believe God can help you out.
For me, I had an awful lot of fun goofing off while we arranged the flower beds, pulled weeds and enjoyed the cool breeze that moderated the bright, pleasant, sunshine. (The "Goofing off" part was key.) In the end, I had an awesome time with my family, and the flower beds look great. (And, it just so happens, that I actually like gardening. A lot.)
Kara weeding the raspberries
Mom...also weeding the raspberries
Isaac digging up weeds.
Dirty feet. A humble part of summer.
And now, I shall rest in the cool of our very own living room.
Cheerio. ;)
