Winter is Going

I love my wife and my wife loves roses, especially the really large and fragrant ones. So, for her birthday last September, I thought I would do something different. Instead of buying her clothes (that don’t fit) or giving her gift cards (to prove how lazy I am), I decided to upgrade the small planter area in front of our house and plant a dozen new rose bushes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The first thing I did was tear out all the old plants and till in new top soil, which took quite a bit of work. Then I went to a nursery and picked out the biggest and most colorful rose bushes I could find. They were tall, healthy looking plants with dark green stems and beautiful blossoms that you could smell a block away. It took me most of the weekend to create this stunning new planter but the smile on her face made it more than worthwhile. It also reminded me that the best gifts are the thoughtful ones that require a little work.

Unfortunately, those new rose bushes went into shock about two weeks later and dropped all their blossoms. That beautiful new planter I created now looked like death warmed over. It was disappointing to say the least and it made me feel like I wasted a bunch of effort for nothing. Every day as I got into my truck to leave the house, I couldn’t avoid seeing that graveyard of thorny bushes and being reminded of what a failure I am at times. But then God took mercy on me one early January morning, in the form of a neighbor. As I was watering my clumps of dead sticks, my neighbor walked by and mentioned, “Time to trim the roses, right?” My replay was something like, “Yeah with a shovel and a grave marker.” Fortunately, he took pity on my and stopped by the next day with written instructions on how to trim, fertilize and nurture a rose garden. Maybe with a little luck and some expert instruction, I could bring my garden back to life!

After trimming them, I spent months talking to, singing to, and caressing those stupid rose buses and yet they still looked like scary Whyte Walkers from Game of Thrones. That is until two weeks ago, when the winter rains stopped, and the spring sunshine started. The first thing I noticed was one small bud on one single plant, but let me tell you it felt like Christmas Day in April! With great excitement, I pointed out each new bud rose bud to my wife about every two minutes of every day until she got sick of hearing about it, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. Maybe I wasn’t such a failure after all!

This morning, as I write this Monday Message, I can smell the beautiful red, white, and pink roses that are sitting nearby in a clear crystal vase. They came from our garden yesterday, which is now overflowing with beautiful fragrant roses. Yes, it took six months, and yes it seemed like nothing good was ever going to happen, but I was wrong to think that and wrong to be so impatient. In fact, I think God was using Mother Nature to teach me a valuable lesson about patience and perseverance, while in turn, demonstrating His own patience and perseverance with me!

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson