To Everything there is a season

Reflections from the garden White Picket Farm LLC.

I haven’t posted for a while, this season of life has been a challenging one. There are days I push thru and tell myself it can be worse, look for the blessings. And, there are days I hide my grief and pain, both emotional and physical behind the curtain of the shower. Hoping to wash away the tears while I soak up the heat of the warm water to sooth the physical pain that permeates my bones. Funny, isn’t it? Washing away the warm tears while soaking up warm water, it is so contradictory.

Many years ago I had a shop in Mt. Zion called Seasons Gift and Garden. It was named for the many seasons of life and the garden, based on Ecclesiastes 3:1. My mom would go on buying trips with me and help me on the weekends. she loved the creativity, the flowers, and our time together. My dad sat on the shop porch and was so proud to see the flower gardens and my business flourish. His battle with lung cancer was nearing it’s final season and his time here on earth was about to come to an end. I closed Seasons to make sure my free days were spent with family. It was 2001, he was 55.

22 years later…my mom would see her last stroll through the garden. How fitting the flowers were at the height of their glory, posed in full regalia. Her season here would soon be finished. It was 2023, she was 76.

She and daddy were childhood sweethearts Mom had just turned 17 the week before they were married. Daddy was 5 months into the ripe old age of 18. Many seasons of life challenged their hearts, faith, finances, and health.

Flowers, like life, have seasons. I will soon clear the fields and beds of those that are dried up, their season has ended. I will plan for the next growing season and the excitement of what the ground will nurture.

In my arrangements I pay homage to the flowers ‘in season’ today. I consider the importance of using the flowers blooming today because tomorrow they will be gone. I too must live in the season of today, the now; for tomorrow it will be gone. Today, the beauty, pain, struggles, and gifts, I am experiencing this season. I am not pushing into the next one, or feeling pressured by commercialized media to buy now. We are so driven by the season of tomorrow that the season of today is lost.

I will cry, I will grieve, I will laugh, I will keep, and I will cast away. I am going to FEEL and be present in the season of today. Soon, I will dance and I am sure Daddy and Mom are. I too, hope you dance.

‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.’ Ecclesiastes 3:1