For two years I have planted a garden in back of my garage where there’s a lot of sun. Each year I have thought how if I had planted my tomatoes and some of the other vegetables in starting pots I would have had better results. Well I have the seeds now and it is time! I am going to plant them in some small plastic pots; keep them in the sun and warm in my kitchen window and watch them grow until it is time to replant them outside. I have always been surprised at just how big they can get in just a few months.
Working the soil does something gently good to my soul. I develop a relationship with the earth. There’s two points I want to make with this.
One: Gandhi suggested that everyone spin their own cotton and weave it into cloth they would then wear themselves. I have watched my daughter weave special circular scarves. It’s a work in which the act of creation is the greatest reward of the whole process. It’s not the money or the thanks she gets when she gives it away. The best reason for doing something is joy of the deed. The act is the reward. These are the best things to spend our time doing. There’s a great unity in building, fixing, or creating simply because we know it would be good to do. I really like the philosophical idea here.
Our lives are complicated. Many things we do are done for a postponed reward: namely money. But some of the most fulfilling times in my life have been when I was working hard at accomplishing something for which I expected no reward; not even gratitude. Helping and being creative was good enough for me.
I can’t promise that what works for me will universally work for everyone; but many great men have found that doing something creative, something just for personal satisfaction is very rewarding. I like to practice the piano. Learning or composing music works for me as well as the garden. So let’s get our hands in the earth, build something or be creative somehow. It’s therapeutic to find peace this way. But let the doing be the reward.
Two: We are just seeds in the garden of the Lord. He has placed us in a condition perfect for growth. There’s sunshine, lots of water and nutrition. Since there is plenty of sunshine, we have to choose whether to grow in the glow or shrivel in the shade. Will we seek out nutrients or poisons? The soil contains both in abundance. Unlike seeds, which instinctively absorb exactly what they need, we must choose. Learning to choose what’s best is the very growth we need. Each choice helps us grow, stagnate or rot.