Life’s harvest

May 2016The coriander plants have gone to seed, their snowy heads bowing to the hot sun. The spinach and lettuce are putting up a valiant battle against this unexpected warm weather in May. The okra loves the heat and the plants are already dotted with red-tipped blooms.In a garden there is no pretense. You can see what is growing (or not). The seeds and plants don’t fight the natural rhythm of the seasons. Change is the only truth, the only constancy.  Here the cycle of life plays out in perfect balance. In a garden the only things that matter are what help plants thrive and so sun, rain, and soil play their part. A garden is a place of constant renewal.How wonderful it would be if our lives contained that sort of balance, grace and simplicity. In my backyard garden the flowers age gracefully and each season brings its own beauty and color. Decay is part of life. There is so much poetry in the orange poppies and delicate dill weeds. Mere words can't describe the scents and sounds of a healthy garden. How can hope, elegancy or humility be put into words?Soon I’ll celebrate another birthday and as I enter the comfort of middle age, I hope my life has some of the grace and beauty of a well-tended garden.  I like to think my life’s garden is bursting with brilliant flowers, bright red tomatoes, purple and white striped eggplants, juicy melons and cool lemon cucumbers. When it is time to harvest, I hope my basket is filled to the brim with healthy produce and fragrant blossoms.In life's harvest we truly reap what we sow.THE END