Life and Death

Hi again to all my readers, old and new (no reference to age being made here I promise). You might be wondering why I'm posting such an ugly picture. It may be ugly but it's the truth. This is what my flower bed looks like after the rather frigid Florida winter. These brown and crunchy bushes used to be beautiful pink and white pentas!

It's been a long time since I lived somewhere where everything died in the winter, so the nightly freezes have been a little bit of a shock for my unsuspecting tropical yard. However, this gives me the perfect opportunity to experience the true rebirth of spring, right? This prime sun spot will be turned into a new tomato garden, which I've wanted to do for the last two years but just didn't have the heart to pull out the pentas.

So I am thinking about life and death - the death of the pentas and the new tomato life that will follow, how there wouldn't be something new coming without the death of the old, how I tend to hang onto the familiar instead of being adventurous with the new. Perhaps though, it's possible to achieve a nice balance of remembering the past with gladness and welcoming the new with a warm embrace. I find that with the garden I am able to do this. I remember those beautiful pentas and how they cheered me when I sat on the porch, but I'm also really excited about having my future tomatoes in this wonderfully perfect spot.

So, I give thanks to God that the garden has already begun to teach me life lessons this early in the season. I'm always amazed at how our Creator reveals His truth in the nature all around us. I look forward expectantly to this years' Journey Through the Garden.