“Before”

Oh the weather outside’s delightful,
and my yard looks oh so frightful.
But since the sun’s clearly calling HELLO
Off I go, Off I go, Off I go!

It doesn’t show signs of stopping,
so I’ll buy more plants for pot-ting;
and while the wind is so sweet and low,
Let’em grow, Let’em grow, let’em grow!

When I finally end this day,
How I’ll hate going back in the house!
But if t’morrow is warm and bright,
I’ll try it all over again!

Though the world is slowly dying,
and, my heart is deeply sighing,
As long gardening work remains, I’ll
Pray for rain, pray for rain, pray for rain!
(My seasonal rewrite of Let It Snow, by Jule Styne)

FIRST Geranium

 So much heartache, tragedy, and plain old meanness going around today! And it’s not like I just sit by and comment on everybody else’s shortcomings! No, I’m right in there with my own brand of bad stuff.

 It feels like I am choking . . . but wait —

I lift up my eyes and see all the trees around our little home – suffused in the greeny gauze –like colors that soften dark tree limbs; translucent heralds of a season that was longer in coming this year than in others.

•  Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~W. Earl Hall* (former U.S. Senator from South Carolina)

Spring!

• I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature’s rebirth? ~Edward Giobbi*

The reality check I need! Maybe you do, too, gentle reader?

• Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth,* gardener and poet

And God knows I am too often one out-of-tune instrument!

 Thank you Lord – Creator, Sustainer, and Friend who has given me a lovely garden to tend, and life to live this day. And thank you for the daily Bible reading plan that keeps reminding me how slow I am to listen to You. Joshua 11:20, in whatever translation I read it scares the inside out of me – especially when I am in one of my dubious days of doubt and despair. 

Plow up my heart, Lord.

God help those who are in pain today, help them look away from their sorrow to see You as more real than whatever it is that is entangling them, tripping them up – killing them.

Like the trees and garden, You can bring life out of dead-looking debris!

The First Red Geranium of 2015!

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* Thanks also to The Quotegarden.com – positively blooming with wisdom, wit and whimsy.