Mother’s Day got me thinking about some comparisons while I rode this weekend. I rode familiar routes so I was able to be more physically and mentally relaxed while riding and spend more time focusing on life than on where I would go while riding.
I got thinking about the garden my hubby and I planted last weekend. It’s the biggest garden we’ve ever planted and the first time we’ve planted it all from seed, except for a half dozen tomato plants. He worked very hard getting the ground all tilled up so the soil was very loose and manageable after my son ran the disc over it initially to get it started as we’ve not planted it in this exact location before. I lost count of how many times hubby tilled it, but he did a great job and it made planting it so easy. He was also able to add an attachment that made rows which also was a huge help.
We planted the seeds, covered them with an appropriate amount of soil, and placed a few tin plates and an empty milk jug on poles in the garden to hopefully scare off birds so they wouldn’t eat the seeds, and then of course watered it.
Every night as soon as the sun was off the garden, I went out and watered it well. Because hubby made the rows the way he did, it was easy to see exactly where the water needed to be for the seeds. I was able to concentrate the water where we wanted and needed it for the seeds and not the whole garden which would have encouraged weeds and grass to also grow and flourish. There’s something exciting and rewarding about seeing those plants come up from just a seed. Once the seeds started to sprout, hubby also applied a repellent to keep our friendly deer and bunnies from eating the newly forming plants.
Raising children is very similar in many ways to planting seeds. They too need the proper nourishment and preparations. Moms need to be able to give them what they need when they’re little in order to help them to grow into healthy productive adults later on. We also attempt to use “repellent”, things we say or do to try to protect our kids from danger or bad influences.
All of the seeds in the garden get the same treatment, yet some seeds mature while others don’t. The same can be true with children. Moms can give all of their children the same nourishment, the same love, the same rules, and yet they don’t all turn out the same. Some constantly want to go against the rules while others just want to follow the rules and please others.
Siblings often all have the same opportunities, yet more often than not they all go separate and very different paths. I can definitely see this in my own family with myself and my siblings as well as with my boys. No two of us are alike. We can be as different as night and day.
As I rode I realized the same is true of bike riders. Some of us ride alone, others ride in groups, and some ride only on the back of someone else’s bike. I personally enjoy riding alone or with my hubby. We ended the weekend with a ride together and that was an awesome way to end the weekend for me. This is something he introduced me to by riding on the back of his bike initially, and then teaching me how to ride my own. It’s something we share between us that’s very special to me. I guess that makes a marriage like a garden too. We need to “water ” the positives and repel the negatives.
In all areas of life we need to focus on the good things and nurture them so they grow and pay less attention to the negatives. The world unfortunately would have us believe just the opposite.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest that you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Lewis Stevenson
Whatever you feed will grow; faith or fear, worry or confidence, doubt or belief. Ultimately it’s our choice what grows.
When faced with temptations or trials it’s not always easy to see the positives, but usually if we look hard enough we can find them.
Why does it often seem so much easier to see the bad vs. the good?
That’s food for thought this week I guess – feel free to share if you have thoughts on that.
Ramblings of a Christian Grandma Biker 