cul·ti·vate To nurture; foster ; to promote growth
It’s time – finally – the glorious time for gardening in the Pacific NW! After months of anticipation, we got appropriately muddy and sweaty digging, fertilizing and planting seeds in our garden several weekends ago. We were almost giddy as we tucked tiny seeds of vegetables soon to be birthed in the ground; spinach, lettuce, carrots, and pole beans… But right now our suburban plot of land framed by a rock wall doesn’t look like much; even after lots of work and too much money spent on plants. It’s well – it’s just a sea of brown dirt, basically. We’re waiting. Every day (ok sometimes a few times a day) we peer out the dining room window inspecting the earth where little seed packets mark the spots where things are surely happening – though they can’t be seen yet.
Growth for people and leaders; living life, actually is a lot like a garden. What we plant eventually grows. What we sow eventually blossoms. Sometimes it seems like such a long wait! But like those little seeds, we can’t control the timing or pace of growth, but we can cultivate the growth. We can “ water, feed, weed and nurture” the soil of our lives. That’s our job. And at times we peer out the window of our lives and we wonder – “Is there anything growing? “Is there any improvement, movement; any change”? Gardening takes patience, persistence and nurturing. Last year my lettuce languished because I didn’t cultivate it (I was “cultivating” our daughter’s wedding instead!) But like the garden, our growth needs regular attention. What we plant, sow, and nurture is what grows. It’s a law of nature; a law of gardening applied to your life and mine. So – what kind of growth are you hoping for? What would you love to see blossom in your life? And what will you need to cultivate to make that happen?