The boys and I have spent the last couple of month tending our “garden” that we planted in the spring. We’ve redirected vines, pruned dying leaves, anchored corn stalks and watered daily to ensure we reap a harvest.
It’s been a lot of work.
We’ve already been enjoying fresh cucumbers several times a week and they’ve been wonderful. But our watermelon vine has really been the show stopper. It’s covering the entire garden. It’s climbing the fence and all the other plants.
It’s really going crazy.
But we’ve watched in amazement as one afternoon, we’ll have about 10 little, tiny, dime-sized watermelons on the vine. Then the next morning, we’ll go out and have none. I was convinced the birds were plucking them off the vine.
I was wrong.
Yesterday we found the evidence of a very different culprit. Sadly, when we went out to water the garden in the morning, we were disheartened to find all four ears of corn, that we’ve been so carefully guarding from the vines, chewed open. The silks were torn back and the tops of each of the sweet ears had been nibbled away. The wasn’t the handiwork of a flittering bird, plucking tiny melons.
It was a rat.
Apparently a rat decided our corn stalks were open for an all night buffet. In one fateful binge, it took down our hard work and dreams of sweet corn in summer. It was incredibly frustrating and yet, there wasn’t anything we could do.
Until we found the flowers.
In that moment of frustration, we happen to notice that high above the garden, the crepe myrtle tree had erupted with hot pink blooms. It was really beautiful. We stared at it, talked about it and took pictures of it. As simple as it sounds, it took our minds off of our loss and frustration.
It made the load a little lighter.
Then on our way back to the house, to our surprise, we noticed two baseball-sized watermelons hanging in those luscious vines…. and on further investigation, there were more. We found about eight quarter to golf-ball sized melons hiding in those vines.
We walked back up to the house talking about flowering trees and juicy watermelons.
You might be thinking that those melons may already be nibbled by our newfound garden resident. And you might be right. But be we learned a lesson in noticing beauty and nurturing gratitude.
As you go through the day, you may find the beautiful, golden ears of corn you’ve been nurturing have been nibbled or destroyed by a rat. It happens to the best of us. 😉 Try to look up anyway. Look for beauty. Find something to be thankful for.
You may be surprised by what you discover.
Creating beautiful gardens takes hard work. Sometimes it takes blood, sweat and tears. And some of the fruit can be stolen in a moment, but if you want to reap a harvest, you must insist on gratitude.
Gratitude grows a garden.
to more love,
Crystal
