One year ago today the only care I had in the world was the condition of my garden. That afternoon I pulled up my first crop of radishes. I had high hopes that I would use them that day. Reap the fruits of my labor so to speak. But upon taking my first bite, I realized…….. they were so bitter.
What a reflection of life they were!
Little did I know that a few hours later I would be taking a real life bite if bitter reality.
Relationships are a lot like a garden. You start them with the best of intentions. You nurture them, you feed them with love and a positive attitude. And then one day you go to enjoy the spoils of your dedication only to find that they are not what you expected.
The start of a relationship…. a seed is planted. Nothing is there, really. But you know what it will be.
You water it…. just like a relationship you cover it with love and feed it with passion. You expect to see it through until it’s final days.
It sprouts….. your excitement is so hopeful. Little by little you watch it grow into something that seems…. beyond yourself. A force of nature that is uncontrolled by you.
You nurture it…… giving it everything it needs to thrive in an environment that isn’t always ideal. When it seems to struggle you give it the support that it needs to survive.
It blooms….. it starts to take the shape of something that is familiar to you. You envision the day that you can take it advantage of its full potential.
You harvest it…… it has finally reached its moment. The fruit of your labor has now become reality. You have put everything you have into this tiny little seed that has now become something more. It looks perfect. It looks ideal. It looks exactly the way you expected it to look.
You taste it…… finally the moment arrives when months of devotion come to fruition. Everything you worked so hard to achieve is now sitting in the palm of your hand.
And then……It’s so damn bitter. How ironic really?
What went wrong?
Our soil was too rocky. Our water, too hard. Our sun, too bright. Our wind, too strong.
The relationship we planted was tainted, I should have known that the fruits of our labor would be bitter. And so I’ll never look at a radish the same way. Just like I’ll never look at a relationship the same again.
You took that from me. You showed me how to fail. You proved to me that no matter how much effort I put into something, it can be spoiled by elements outside of my control. Because after all of it I found that the process wasn’t tainted……
The seed was.
Great Imperfections 