Monday, March 14, 2011

Lent and my landscaping

Daylight savings time is here!!! When I was a kid, I used to like "Fall back" better than "Spring forward" because of the *extra* hour of sleep. Now, it's the other way around...I'd MUCH rather have that extra hour of daylight at the end of the day. So much. And I made use of every hour until dark yesterday.

This weekend was beautiful, so we spent nearly every possible moment in the landscaping. We have a rather ambitious project going on this year. We are replacing all of our mulch with rock. This requires removal of old mulch and, often, removal and replacement of weed blanket. Since a good number of our plants (irises and hostas) really needed to be split, I just took them all out before re-blanketing and then re-planted the split plants. We are about 30% finished with bed preparation (for rock) after this weekend. My muscles hurt and my head is screaming...an unfortunate side effect from all the work in the dirt. But I can't tell you how much I LOVE working in the dirt and seeing the beginning promises of Spring popping up out of the ground as they do every year.

I love how this season of the Church reflects this season of nature. Lent is a time of repentance and renewal...rooting out some things in our lives that separate us from Christ in order that we might have a deeper experience of new life in Him. I like to think about that as I pull out all the dead leaves and branches to make way for the new greenery just starting to grow beneath. As I'm pruning and splitting plants, I am reminded that it is this cutting off and breaking apart that allows the plants to grow bigger, healthier and more beautiful. It's a nice image for reflection during Lent.

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