Re-wilding diversity

 

I strolled through the meadow (used to be a lawn, but Don is really embracing the concept of re-wilding), under the overhanging foliage where lilac and cypress meet, and into the eastern corner of the garden. It’s a corner of an area we euphemistically refer to as ‘the orchard’ because it has a plum and a couple of apple trees in it. Other than that, it has long been an overgrown wilderness in which the compost bin squats.

This year, though, Don cleared part of it, planting potatoes in a small section and constructing a frame for the peas and beans to clamber up. I was looking for a place to plant my three pumpkin seedlings a few weeks ago, and he swept his hand across the area, indicating, or so I thought, that quite a stretch of that patch was unplanted and I was welcome to it.

However. When I took my stroll yesterday, I discovered that the two pumpkin plants which have survived, and are even beginning to flourish, are now sitting shoulder to shoulder with sprouting potatoes.

Sometimes, I can put my roots down somewhere, expecting to harvest a certain crop, unaware of what expectations might have been sown there previously. My pumpkins, and Don’s potatoes, are now rooted to their spots, but may my roots be firmly established in Jesus, so that I have the grace and humility to shuffle and adjust my desires to make space for the hopes and dreams of others.

May I tread gently on your earth this day, dear Lord, allowing diversity to flourish and welcoming – even delighting – in the unexpected.