“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.
It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
We pass this way only once. Our voice lends form to our hopes and dreams. Our action lends reality to those possibilities. Without declaration and follow through we are lost. To tell our story, truly, we must be willing to step outside the walls of comfort and common place and share the vision that haunts our heart and blesses it at the same time.
A garden and its expression is a perfect opportunity to give truth to who we are and what we see. If we play it safe it will be so-so. If we take a risk and explore the uses of color and form that go outside our comfort zone, we may be happily surprised by the outcome.
We will die someday, but what gift will we leave our loved ones and even the person we do not know? What will you tell them about a live well lived? Walk through the day and be willing to take it upon yourself to live a larger life than the one you considered. Every action has an impact. You are worth the effort. So is your legacy. Live your life as if it is worth having and worth telling.
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