Celibate and Sane: How Does Your Garden Grow .... Like a Jungle

November 23, 2010

How Does Your Garden Grow .... Like a Jungle

The recent rains have turned our yard and garden into "Jungle Land." I'm thinking about selling tickets, but I fear entrants may get lost and never find their way out again.

I try to turn a blind eye to the enormous piles of weeds growing merrily everywhere, and instead focus on areas that are doing well, and not being overtaken by monstrous patches of the weedy stuff.

Below our back patio is my favourite patch of garden. This is mainly because there are so many plants here that they outnumber the weeds. Still, the weeds are fighting back in places.

I noticed one of the trees in the far corner appeared to have died.

Whereas most other plants had been blooming well before spring even started, and more so since the rains, this tree just stood forlornly, it's bare branches reaching out as if in the last clutches of death.

I was wrong, thankfully. In just the last couple of weeks, it finally started to get some green shoots and is now sporting a lovely, fresh batch of new green leaves.

The old frangipani is such a common sight in Australia, that we take it for granted. I love the contrast between the rough gnarled branches and the smooth creaminess of their flowers.

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Personal Quotes from Vicki-S

"Occasionally I find my breakfast a little bitter, and sometimes it's difficult to chew and swallow; though at other times it's sweet, but it’s very satisfying and always sustains me. My most important meal of the day, is feasting on God’s Word and drinking up His presence."

I love me, because God loves me. It's not that God doesn't see my flaws, they are like blazing torches in His eyes, but rather that He sees past my imperfections and still loves me. And who am I to argue with the perfect God that I am worthwhile, that I am worthy of love, and that He accepts me and wants me to be His child, His beloved daughter? When I understood this, I began to accept and embrace His version and His vision of me, and not the world's.

"The silent treatment and sulking are simply two other weapons in the arsenal of the manipulator."

"Often people use the metaphor of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon to describe how we can grow from difficult experiences, but what they don't mention is the fact that at first we start off as an ugly caterpillar."

"We so often just get caught up in trying to just get through each day, that we forget to pause and be thankful for the fresh one that is presented anew and untouched each morning."

"Contrary to what we might think, forgiveness isn't so much about healing our relationship with that other person, but about healing our own broken heart."

"The purpose of school reunions is to show off how much you've achieved in life, to laugh at the once popular kids who've aged more quickly than you; and to wince at the guy who was a bully in school and who aptly became a policeman."

"I've found in many organisations where volunteers are needed, including the modern-day church, that 80% of its people sit back and let everyone else do most of the work, then there's the 10% who actually make the place run, and the remaining 10% just like to whinge about the 10% doing the work, especially about how they could do it better."

"When traced back to its source, every sin, every despicable act, and every war was motivated by someone's selfishness."

"I do not want to think of man, for that would distract me from God. But if I focus on God, I cannot help but think of my fellow man, and each day God keeps the scales balanced so that I have enough within me to do both."

"Overcoming depression isn’t about changing ones attitude, or just ‘getting on’ with things, it’s like removing one’s personal black shroud one thread at a time, with ones teeth.”