I was doing summer weeding in the garden, and as I worked, watching the weeds grow after only having picked them a few weeks before, it dawned on me that weeding is as much an ongoing part of life as everything else. Somehow we have the idea that if we’ve done something once, it should stay “done.” Yet, a garden is alive, as is our dwelling...where dust accumulates and crumbs spill on the floor. Cleaning and clearing are always going on in nature, and we need to realize that the same holds true for us.
We eat, digest, and eliminate waste. We don’t do these things just once – they are a daily routine. So, in the scheme of things, life is always dynamic - always a process. We are in the building up stage or the breaking down stage. We are planting AND weeding. We are walking through our clean surroundings AND messing them up at the same time. The dishwasher is loaded - then the dishes are cleaned and unloaded, and the process takes place again and again.
Instead of bemoaning things never fully done for “good,” we can recognize and appreciate the gift of movement. We grow into ourselves through the changes and the repetition. It takes us time to see the full gift of life’s annoyances. But once we do, we can smile with appreciation. Here we are: the flower—the weed. Not “either/or,” but “both/and.”
From Seasons of the Soul print edition, Summer 2002