Grow, weeds, grow!

Anyone who knows anything about me knows I’m obsessed with gardening. 

I am endlessly fascinated by the process through which a tiny, seemingly dead piece of plant material can germinate, and grow, and become abundant nutritious food, vital medicine, or a beautiful ornamental plant. 

But with gardening comes weeds.  Weeds are tough.  They are persistent, and they are ever-present. They often overcome our best control technologies.  Weeds have defeated many a gardener.

How can you “compost” the challenges in your life?  How can you turn those barriers into steppingstones, your hardships into blessings? 

Weeds are the gardener’s nemesis, but they also make great compost. Weeds typically have deep tap roots that access minerals and nutrients from deep soil levels that cultivars normally do not reach.  Those nutrients are stored in the roots, stems and leaves of the weed.  Properly composted into a soil amendment, these naturally occurring plants can become the best fertilizer you can find.

So, instead of setting the goal of having a pristine weed-free garden, an impossible standard to meet that would only bring frustration, I instead set the goal of filling one bucket with pulled weeds. 

But I don’t call them weeds, and I don’t call it “pulling”.  I call it “harvesting plant nutrients”.  I don’t try to get them all; I just try to gather a nice contribution to my composter.   This turns an odious and discouraging chore into the pleasurable acquisition of a gift from nature. 

It even changes the nature of the weeds I don’t pull.  They are no longer annoyances, but a resource growing to ever higher levels of abundance. 

Every challenge carries its own blessings.  It’s up to us to find that blessing.  Faith is knowing that blessing is there before we see it.   Simply changing how you label something can change its role in your life.  Instead of internally moaning that you “have” to do some unwanted task, remind yourself that you “get” to do it, that it is an opportunity with its own unique reward. 

How can you “compost” the challenges in your life?  How can you turn those barriers into steppingstones, your hardships into blessings?  Sometimes, changing the way we think is the only solution we really need.