No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine ... Matthew 5:15-16
Nancy probably has more garden than lawn. She’s an avid gardener, and her and her spouse’s yard has beautiful beds of shrubs, small trees, and perennials all around the house. (He helps ’though I hear he’s the labor rather than the creativity or passion.) Soon after my mother moved into her new home, she walked me down to her friends’ home, and Nancy and George gave me the grand tour. (That’s also when they shared some variegated Solomon’s seal with me. ) Now when I visit my mother, I always enjoy taking a walk down the street to see what’s new there. And since they live on a corner of sorts I can see quite a bit from the road without intruding.
When I take walks or bike around home, it can be hard to resist walking into strangers’ yards when I see an attractive arrangement, a plant I don’t recognize and would like to look at more closely, or a particular way they set up their bed.
That’s the thing about people who find something they’re passionate about – whether it’s gardening, dirt bike racing, art, learning, God, or anything else. Once the interest captures us, we want to discover how other people interpret the passion in their own lives. We want to share our enthusiasm – our learnings, our frustrations and successes – and the fruit of our labors of love.
I planted those Solomon’s seal at the parsonage where I was living at the time. When I moved to Appleton, I brought a few roots with me and gave them a new home under a spruce in the backyard. Yesterday, I saw their noses poking out of the soil. Fourteen. Exciting!
Last summer I was only at my mother’s for a day. I had time to do walkabout through her yard, though not to go down to Nancy’s. Still, I learned that she’d been busy when my mother handed me a bucket of about two gallons (!) of daffodil bulbs. It seems Nancy had been thinning and moving her spring flowers.
What treasure! How exciting! Still, as I contemplated those dozens and dozens of bulbs, I remembered how full my weeks are. I’d feel terrible if I didn’t get all of them in the ground before the snow flew. So I asked my mother for three brown paper lunch bags and had her, my brother and my sister each take as many as they thought they could use. (In October, I also shared some of the last ones I hadn’t gotten to with a local gardening friend.)
Nancy’s gift added beauty to my springtime and to at least four other people I know of. I’m sure others who walk past have also appreciated them. (I also have other great treats coming up, like the dog tooth violet Elle shared a couple years ago.)
I’ve known a few people who were less than enthusiastic about having to share other people’s passions. My former husband used to say I cared too much about too many things. (He was right.) Still, we were made to share who we are. That’s the best gift we can offer the world.
Let your light so shine!
Last summer I was only at my mother’s for a day. I had time to do walkabout through her yard, though not to go down to Nancy’s. Still, I learned that she’d been busy when my mother handed me a bucket of about two gallons (!) of daffodil bulbs. It seems Nancy had been thinning and moving her spring flowers.
What treasure! How exciting! Still, as I contemplated those dozens and dozens of bulbs, I remembered how full my weeks are. I’d feel terrible if I didn’t get all of them in the ground before the snow flew. So I asked my mother for three brown paper lunch bags and had her, my brother and my sister each take as many as they thought they could use. (In October, I also shared some of the last ones I hadn’t gotten to with a local gardening friend.)
Let your light so shine!
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