More lessons from my garden

Hurray!  This morning we awoke to no rain!  Time to get in the garden and start clearing up after the winter.  My first job was to sort out the strawberries as they give us fruit in June so there isn't much time to make sure they're ok.

It seems that weeds thrive in our winter while all the plants I try to cultivate seem to die.  The truth is that they are really only resting and sleeping, waiting for warmer weather to awaken again and give us so much.  So looking at the strawberry patch, I found quite a lot of weeds that needed to be cleared.  There was also a lot of dead leaves from last year's strawberry growth that needed to be cleared.

It was amazing how once I managed to clear away the weeds and the dead leaves, there was new life underneath all the chaos.  We know that the weeds tend to take over unless they are kept in check but what I realised also this morning is that the dead leaves, last year's growth not only stopped the new leaves from being seen, they were actually chokling them while on the same plant, covering them and stopping them from receiving the life-giving rays of the sun.

It isn't always easy to let go of what is passed but holding onto it can so easily stop new growth.  I was thankful for last year's leaves and the produce they gave us.  They served their purpose then but now the new life needs to come through and supply new and fresh fruit this year.  

Today is also Easter Sunday, the Day of Resurrection.  Thank you garden and my strawberry plants for showing me again the miracle of new life when everything seems dead and finished. God's creation can teach us so much.  He that has eyes let him see! 

Now and Then

The farm owned by the blogger mentioned

A blog I follow commented this week about the way the countryside has changed, at least in the USA.  He was noting the difference between the number of small family farms that have now been taken over by the much larger and highly mechanised form of growing crops and farming animals.  He says that today only 15% of Americans live in rural areas.  In 1945 30% of Americans were farmers owning land with an average 195 acres.  Today less than 1% are farmers and most crops are grown on farms of over 1000 acres.  You can see his blog post on this link entitled Disappearing Farmers (October 21st).  I guess that is only one of the changes in the way our food is produced.  It is also true that the way we food shop has changed greatly over the last few decades and our expectations when we shop.  We now expect and usually get fresh food all year round as though there are no longer seasons for crops.  We can get food grown in more tropical climates whenever we want, more or less, without considering the cost of shipping this around the world just for our convenience.

The other day I had a conversation with a friend about the basket she was carrying.  She had made it herself from willow that grows on her land.  I made the comment that she should try selling them and make a business for herself.  Her reply was practical but a bit sad I thought.  She said that what she could charge for them and what people would be prepared to pay just wouldn't pay for the hours it takes to make them and so it would just not be cost effective and certainly not a way to make a living.  We came to the conclusion that sadly many old crafts are slowly dying as people either don't have the spare time to take them up as a hobby or they are no longer a way to earn enough money to be able to sustain a decent way of life.  To be fair, I had to admit that when buying something, price is a big consideration and if the item serves the purpose we buy it.  For most of us then it's more a case of why are we going to pay more just to get something that has been handmade when the cheaper version serves us just as well?  .    


This week saw a very important date in time travel.  Many will understand when I say the date October 21st 2015.  That was the date that Marty McFly experienced when he flew in the time travel car from the year 1985, 30 years into the future in the film Back To The Future.  There was much on the news as people considered just how many of the things that he experienced in the film actually are now commonplace and which things never came to pass.  Of course much of the technology we now take for granted could not have been envisaged 30 years ago - individual mobile phones, internet connection on the go from just about anywhere and being able to talk face to face to someone on the other side of the world.  I'm sure you can think of many other ways that our lives have been revolutionised and changed forever. 

All this brings to mind the truth that things are continually evolving and changing.  Some things are sadly lost while other things are received with much pleasure.  Maybe it makes us think about the things that are under threat and if we really want to lose them or if they no longer serve their purpose in a modern era.  The same goes for religion.  We hang on to traditions, just because they are traditions when maybe we should be letting them go in favour of other ways that are more compatible with our world today.  Tradition is good but only if it is fit for purpose.  Just as we evolve and change and the world around us is constantly evolving, we should continually be evolving in spirit in order to continue to follow where the spirit leads.  Why do we do the things we do?  Is it simply because that's the way we've always done them?  Is what worked in days gone by working today?  Is it making a difference and making our world a better place?  Our faith is worth nothing if it's not applicable to our lives now in the 21st century.  It is good to remember the past but not to live in it.  What do I need to hold on to and what should I let go?  My belief system must be relevant to my life now or what's the point?  These and many more questions come to mind when thinking about my spiritual journey now and then.

Don't Hold Your Breath

The phrase 'Don't hold your breath' as we know, refers to the fact that something is very unlikely to happen.  We shouldn't expect a certain result or we will probably be disappointed.  The truth is that holding your breath can, in extreme cases, be quite dangerous.  I know someone who as a young child, used to hold his breath when he cried.  This was a cause of constant concern for his parents.
Whenever he started to cry, they had to watch him to make sure that within a few seconds at most he would start breathing again.  Otherwise they would need to take some action to make him stop holding his breath.  Holding your breath like this could cause serious physical harm.

Breathing is something we do without even thinking.  We breathe in fresh air so that oxygen can be extracted from it by the lungs and pumped around our bodies through our blood stream.  The air is made up of many things but mainly oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.  The lungs processing this air we have just breathed in, as well as extracting the oxygen that our body needs to stay alive, also expels the unwanted carbon dioxide as we breathe out.  So, no matter what we are doing, our bodies perform the act of breathing in and out, taking in what we need and expelling what our bodies reject.  It's the same with eating.  We need to feed our bodies with energy but with everything we eat there is some waste that must be expelled in order to remain healthy.


We take into our lives so much, not only in the daily, physical bodily functions that keep us alive but in the things that we acquire.  The trouble is that we humans have a habit of hoarding stuff, 'holding our breath' as it were with material things.  Those who have moved house will know just how much we accumulate without even realising it.  Some people move into a bigger house so they can have more room to stash their accumulated stuff -  and then get more.  It would probably be cheaper to 'breathe' with our material wealth and as we take in more maybe we should get rid of stuff that we no longer need or use.  Some things might have been useful at one time but are no longer necessary.  And yet we hold on to them! 

Saddest of all though is when people hold on to negative emotions or memories.  Holding onto to such feelings can really be harmful to our spirits.  If something is no longer needed, breathe it out or you run the risk of becoming hurt and damaged.  We want to be blessed by God and often experience such blessing but at the same time seem unwilling to let go and breathe out the negative resentments, attitudes, disappointments and grudges.  Holding your breath can be harmful, physically, materially, emotionally and spiritually.  Breathe in the fresh air of God but don't forget to breathe out what you no longer need or what negatively affects your spirit.  You'll feel better for it.