Lessons In A Garden

My mother-in-law had surgery today, 86 years old and a bad hip put her in the hospital. Her one and only joy, tending to her garden was suddenly taken away from her because she could no longer walk or bend down to pull a tiny weed. For most of us that weed and keeping up our own flower patch would be a hindrance, an obstacle in our way, a chore. To her the beauty of pulling that weed was the thrill of removing an obstacle so that her plants and flowers could flourish. Watching something grow from an excessive amount of time watering and pulling and cutting and fertilizing was a reward in the end and something she took pride in. She had earned her title as the lady with a green thumb.

As we sat in the hospital waiting room worrying about what might go wrong my mother-in-law was probably thinking about all the possibilities a new hip would afford her. All the new memories she would be able to cultivate in her own backyard. The sun on her face, dirt in her hands, and feeling the grass under her feet meant more to her than the risk of going under the knife. Her life was a metaphor and can be a lesson for those of us struggling to maintain or lose our weight.

We may not be cultivating a backyard or a garden but we our tending to our own health. We are eating right and spending excessive amounts of time on this because we know that it will help us to grow inside and out.

The exercise we incorporate will build strength and endurance so we can enjoy bending over not necessarily to pull a weed but perhaps to pick up a child or pull a wagon.

We look at the possibilities because if we forget them we won’t be able to see the beauty. Our lives renewed.

Take time to remember how you’ve grown, how important it is that you keep tending to your healthy lifestyle. Don’t look at obstacles in your way as a hindrance but rather take joy in removing them so that you can sit back, take pride in what you are doing, see the beauty in yourself and watch yourself grow.