It takes about one hundred days to grow a parsnip, or a cabbage. Lima beans or peas, even a potato takes about one hundred days to be ready to eat. That’s a lot of waiting if your hungry. You have to be patient.

“Nature does not hurry, though everything is accomplished.”  Lao Tzu

If you are part of a community garden, other things might be ready sooner and we can all share as the harvest rolls in. Some people will grow things that others have no interest in, for example rutabaga. Why anyone would put their time and attention into cultivating these is beyond me. They are a cross between a bitter turnip and a pungent green cabbage and can “perfume” an entire house with a distinctive aroma when cooked. Many a childhood drama has played out at family dinner tables over the lowly rutabaga. But to each their own. I can’t control what my neighbor chooses to grow. Perhaps he thinks my lima beans are nasty and inedible. So, we share what we can and withhold our judgements.

“Cultivate your own garden and let go of your tendency to examine and judge how others cultivate theirs. Catch yourself in moments of gossip about how others ought to be living and rid yourself of thoughts about how they should be doing it this way, or how they have to right to live and think as they do. Stay busy and involved in your own life projects and pursuits and you will be far too busy to care, much less compel others to believe and live as you do.”  Dr. Wayne Dyer

What good is it for us to complain about someone else’s garden?  There is more strength in paying attention to our own choices than disagreeing with those of others. Our ability to focus is a form of currency that we need to spend wisely. Let’s concentrate our intention and attention on creating all the good we want to see growing in the world. Then we will see our efforts truly blossom into reality.

remember, goodness grows,

Heather