I had a dream...

last night that one of my potato plants had finally popped out of the soil. Guess what, not one, but two them have!

However, my biggest gardening success today was not the potatoes, or the corn, peas, melons, herbs or zucchini that I planted. My biggest success was nipping my gardening anxiety in the bud!

I had been getting increasingly nervous that nothing was gonna grow and that I was wasting a lot of time and money. I was beginning to worry that I was planting things too close together, or too far apart. Rather than enjoying the smell of the soil and the warm sun and cooling breeze, I was over-thinking where to put the thyme and how far apart to plant the melons. I was obsessing and had to remind myself that everything I am doing this year is an experiment. That even if I don't end up with 100 pounds of fresh produce this summer, I will have learned a LOT in the process...and that the process this season is as important as the outcome.

The heart of the problem is that, like almost everyone I know, I am far, far too hard on myself. Far, far too quick to judge my worth as a person on unrealistic expectations, and far too inclined to miss out on the joy of the process because of the fear of failure. What a waste of time and emotional energy!

So, I plugged those plants in that ground with my bare hands (I really don't like using gardening gloves). Then I mulched it (I was sorry that I did not use gardening gloves for this because I ended up with about 100 little slivers), and then I lit my Chinese lanterns, put my feet up and watched the sun go down. Saweet!

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Lord, Creator of every green thing, thank you for the gift of food. Thank you for the life and purpose that You put in each plant...and thank you for the joy of getting to watch You make them grow! Amen!