The Pampered Yard ~ happy mom's day!

Okay, okay, I confess: I have a pampered yard. She is weed-free and meticulously managed by both my husband and myself. Good luck to any dandelion or vermin that tries to take up residence. Our yard is our baby. And don’t mess with ‘baby’

It’s funny, because I remember when I didn’t think a thing about the shape of anyone’s yard. In fact, one evening I went on a little raiding party and took a pretty flower from every yard. Just one, mind you, to make my mother a bouquet. As I was admiring my handiwork, my mom’s new husband came into the dining room. “Where did you get those?” He asked rather gruffly. “On my walk,” I replied sheepishly. He stormed in a grabbed the vase: “Someone grew these! And not for a stranger to come and pluck at will.”

He wasn’t a mean guy, so I was rather surprised. 

'Didn’t God grow them,' I thought to myself. 'No one would mind one (or two) missing flowers,' I justified. 

Turns out when he was a kid growing up in Queens, his father and brothers and he planted some azaleas for his mom for Mother’s Day. When they woke up the next day, someone had stolen them! So yes, he saw what I did as stealing someone else’s property. And though it wasn’t quite the same, I was forever changed by that exchange. To this day, I prefer to leave flowers in the ground, where the owner (even myself) can enjoy them much longer. I like to leave them in place - even though a lot of flowers benefit from trimming. In the world of nature, when a flower goes missing somehow the plants sends a signal to make more.

Here is the rub. If I spend too much effort making my lawn and garden just right have I actually created an idol? 

There has to come a time to enjoy it and to share it; to watch it grow and to learn the lesson of generosity:

“Give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38

Pampered or not, the yard is just the yard.  Some days you will wake up and find that a squirrel or a storm or maybe an unsuspecting kid has robbed you of your work. Yet this is when we learn tolerance and patience and not ironically, what it is do be a mother - to hold their hand for a little while. 

A yard, like a child is here for a season. Enjoy it while you have it. Nurture it while you can. Welcome a friend. But don’t pamper it to death. Love it to life.

And when the time comes, let it go.

May you have a blessed Mother's Day!