Finding Inspiration

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”  Don Williams, Jr., American Novelist  and Poet

I admit to being in a rut these past several weeks about what to write on this blog.  Should it be about garden tips, the garden show at the fairgrounds, or the latest flower in bloom? Or maybe the bumper crop in the way of tomatoes (at least by my standards) that has come our way?    

Merlin’s Garden is in full action. The grapes are getting plumper although they still sour in the mouth, the birds happily feed on seed, the crape myrtle has begun to blossom, the figs are hitting their stride and the iceberg roses offer a brilliant display of white blooms.  I feel happy walking about the garden.  I have been away for five days in Portland at the antique show and love to come home and see what is new.

But darn, I am still in a rut.  In the matter of gardening, there are so many others much more expert than me, although this is not their garden, it is mine.  So what does that all mean? 

The inspiration seems to be lacking although it exists all around me, but I think my problem lies in some inner tendency, a very human one, that if I just do things just so, then I will have arrived.  The only problem with that murky thinking is that when you get to one place there is always another step, another road, another destination.  In this regard, thinking we need to compete and even achieve perfection, is pointless. 

We would do well to not be so hard on ourselves and entertain our chronic need to think we have to get somewhere.  Rather, it would behoove us to take appreciation in the smaller efforts of our days and to cherish our own unique vision of beauty.  Life can flit by awful quickly and while we get anxious about what is happening or not, life can also become wasted. 

I think the flowers have been trying to tell me something for more than a couple of days.  Not to despair perhaps.  Flowers just do their thing.  They do what they do best.  Give ‘em a little water, some compost, the occasional fertilizer and good soil, and they will show us all that if we are patient and quiet enough, they will speak in smell and vision, ultimately giving us the inspiration to keep going on the road.  Afterall, we don’t do this just for the show, we do it because it inspires in us a deeper vision of our lives  — to know with hard work and patience and a willingness to keep putting one foot in front of the other, we will be rewarded with a peace we cannot describe in words.  Not all days will sing us praises, but on occasion, the color of a rose or a bird’s song, will.