The Garden Report
It is almost the end of June and my kids will soon be
bringing home report cards. I'm expecting that they will all get
good reports and be promoted to the next grade. I am expecting
report cards that indicate what each child has learned, how they have
progressed since the beginning of the year, their particular
strengths and perhaps a suggestion or two on something they could
improve. What I'm not expecting are report cards detailing how my
10-year-old is inept with physics equations, that my 7-year-old can't
do trigonometry, that my 5-year-old hasn't conjugated a single French
verb all year, even though all those things are true. A report card
takes into account where the child is at in his education and how far
he has come, not how far he has yet to go before he is capable of
every conceivable skill.
It's been awhile since I have received a report card,
but I think the idea is valuable personally. To pause periodically
and reflect on how I'm doing and how far I've come.
Take, for instance, my gardening.
I'm not a great gardener, despite having years of
“experience” (I hate to think of how many flowers and vegetable
plants I accidentally chopped down while hoeing in my mom's garden as
a kid). But I have come to love my yard, and I enjoy taking care of
it.
When we first moved to our place, the task of getting
control of our yard was daunting, overwhelming. It was overgrown
with weeds and wild apple and plum tree sapplings. The previous
tenant was not much one for mowing the lawn, but he did find it a
convenient place to park old vehicles and washing machines.
The first year was spent removing machines,
out-buildings and trees, and trying to stay on top of the grass
cutting. Subsequent years involved planting new trees in the right
spots and developing flower gardens.
When I compare my yard to other people's yards who have a greener thumb than I, or have been developing their gardens for 30 years, I can get pretty discouraged. But when I look back to see what we started with and how far we've come in six years, it can be quite gratifying.
Every once in awhile, I think it's a good idea to take a look back
to see if I am progressing in important areas of my life, if I am
focusing on the right priorities. And when I consider other people, I
need to remind myself be careful about passing judgment, because I
don't know where they have started from or how far they have come.
“...being confident of this, that God who began a
good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day
of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6
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