Nature has a way of providing us with simple lessons that we would do well to embrace and remember. Although I do not have 'green fingers', I do find working in the garden relaxing and an excellent tonic for being in the present.
Quite a few months ago I decided to get rid of all the weeds in my lawn, and so armed with weed-killer, I proceeded to spread it across my lawn. In my haste to get the job done and because my eyesight is probably (OK, definitely) not what it used to be, I failed to read the small print on the label that happened to mention that not only did the weed-killer kill off all known varieties of weed, but it also killed off various strains of buffalo grass (which just happened to be about 95% of my lawn). Within 10 days, I had no weeds, neither did I have any lawn.
The good news was I could now start my lawn from scratch. I prepared the soil, laid the turf and watered the new lawn regularly. Soon, I had a lawn that looked far better than it had previously (which wasn't hard) and I was happy to say the least.
It wasn't long before I noticed a few weeds making their uninvited appearance on my lawn again. This time I quickly dealt with the offending culprits; not with weed-killer but by hand. A few weeks would go by, the weeds would appear again, and they would be dealt with. Soon, I realized the first of Nature's lessons:"Getting rid of weeds is an on-going process."
Weeds are like our bad habits. If left unattended and unrecognized, they will consume our lives. We may get rid of them through various shock treatments like attending a 3-day seminar, or other personal self-help programs (in my case it was the weed-killer), but if we do not continuously monitor our environment or our progress, they will reappear and keep on reappearing until we have developed new and better habits.
How often have we enthusiastically started a goal or task only to be way-laid at the first major hurdle and then find ourselves retreating back to our comfort zones and the safety of our bad habits? How often have we felt we could have done better at a particular task or activity if only we had not procrastinated or wasted time and energy focusing on unimportant issues?
So, persevere with those weeds; make no mistake about it, they will keep popping up, but by continuously dealing with them when they do raise their unsightly heads, you will win in the end. Nature is a wonderful teacher.
What have been some of the lessons that Nature has given you over the years?
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