Garden Girl…..

Welcome to my new Cafe` Notes corner on my blog site, where I’ll be sharing snippets from my daily life. I hope you enjoy the simple observations and the thoughts that collect in this mind and heart of mine.

I am a wanna-be gardener. Every year, in April and May, I become like a little kid in a candy store, except my candy is in the garden centers of the local box stores. I plan and dream and dig and rearrange the eclectic collection of rusted and unique yard art I have gathered over the years. My landscape assistant, a.k.a. hubby, lugs bags of soil and mulch for me and raises his eyebrows in amusement when I bring home another carload of flowers and veggies.

If we pay attention, I think gardening is a wise teacher of life and wisdom. There are seeds and plants to sow into good soil, then water regularly, pruning, weeding, and protecting from pesky summer storms.

I have creeping vines slithering from the neighbor’s yard under our privacy fence. This particular one is very dainty and delicate looking with shiny green leaves. But looks are deceiving. These innocent-looking plants appear to blend in but are wrapping around my rose bushes and will destroy them and take over the area if I am not diligent in detecting them and pulling them out. As I was rescuing my rose bushes and removing the vines, I realized that toxic behavior from people who say they love me slither into my life and, if not attended to through my setting of boundaries, will choke out the beautiful things that are sprouting and blooming in my heart and soul. Do you see them? The smaller heart-shape-ish shiny leaves and thin vines? Don’t be deceived! They are the thieves of life.

So, your Cafe` Note for today is a reminder from Proverbs 4:23…

So above all, guard the affections of your heart,

for they affect all that you are.

Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being,

for from there flows the wellspring of life.