Moving Beyond the Books

"Just follow my lead" Brianna suggested as she began digging small holes for our tomato plants this past evening. I eagerly kicked off my flip-flops, felt God's cool creation beneath my feet, sat down next to my lovely and adventurous wife, and followed her example in planting our new garden. Being a first time gardener I had to learn everything from Brianna who has yet again helped me move beyond the books.

You see, I have often read about gardening, written about the simplicity and interconnectedness of community gardening, and even helped others with their garden: but I have never had one of my own. Following the suggestion of Brianna and her constant reminders to apply, we each got a plot in one of our town's local community gardens. At the end of a long day when we were both exhausted from long days at work, we discovered that our garden plots had finally been roto-tilled and we could begin our first step in planting! Despite our every desire to just curl up and watch another episode of Downton Abbey (much like an old married couple, I suppose) we gathered our supplies and headed over to our plots.

As I began digging in the soil, giving plants a home, and constantly refilling our watering pot I could not help, but feel rejuvenated, at peace, and filled with a new found energy. This simple act of working the soil and making sure that everything was spaced out enough was surprisingly relaxing to both my body and my soul. It was a reminder that I need not just live my life in books--as great as books are--but that I need to experience life too; this discovery has been one of the many facts that I love about my relationship with Brianna. She doesn't allow me to simply dream. She hears my dreams and refuses to keep them as such. Instead she sits down with me and helps me brainstorm and plan how we, as a team, can make this dream a reality.

Life is a like a garden. There are so many options of plans we can plant. So many approaches we can take to how we care for the soil we are given. But if we are always reading and dreaming about what we will plant or how we will plant it then nothing will ever grow. We need to find people who will dream with us and challenge us to go beyond the books and the dreaming. To get down to the earth, get your bare feet and hands dirty, and start working in the soil. If we want to change the world, if we want to even leave an impact then we must start digging.

Don't just look, but observe.

The light leaked in through the window and my eyes burst open before my alarm went off. I was nervous, but ready for the day. Disappointed that I beat my alarm, but I knew it was time to start getting up. Nevertheless, as anyone who is not used to getting up at the break of light, I waited until I officially heard my alarm before I soggily put on clothing and found my source of energy: coffee. It is not often that I find myself waking before 7 AM, but today I had a mission: I was asked to share a devotional at a club at the local High School. I was ready, but still awakening.

As I journeyed home after a successful time of sharing I began to notice the particulars of the trees I passed, the dents and scratches on cars, and the way that the traffic lights slowly wobbled up and down. As I pulled into my parking lot I noticed the door that I so often enter and leave. I have seen it every day since Brianna moved in a year before we married. It has always just been a door to me, but

today I really noticed it. I observed the paint streaks on the door, the shutters on either side of the door, the curved brick above our apartment number. I watched the walkway leading up to the door imagining all those humans, myself included, who have walked that path seeking refuge, seeking warmth, and seeking their belonging. I thought of the creatures that have walked along that entrance: the dogs that lived inside, the worms after a nice rain, and all the little bugs that are too small for the average person to observe in following their busy schedules.

How often do we truly look and observe our every day surroundings? What places and things do we see every day, but not truly see. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary to look means "to direct your eyes in a particular direction or to seem to be something especially because of appearance" and the word observe means, "to watch and sometimes also listen to (someone or something) carefully or to see and notice (someone or something)" How often do we look, but not observe?

What stories are we missing daily because we merely look at things and don't observe? What stories would the door bring us? Learning those it sees each day and those it hears each day. The door has a story to tell. What about the walkway to the door? It is used to being walked all over, what stories does it bring to the table? Let us stop rushing through life without observing all that is around us. Let us look at the good gifts that God has led us to and really get to know them.

I would like to end with the words from one of my favorite books, Fahrenheit 451, “Have you ever watched the jet cars race on the boulevard?...I sometimes think drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly...If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! He'd say, that’s grass! A pink blur! That’s a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows” (Ray Bradbury). How often are we like this even when we aren't in cars? We just race through life and don't really look at the grass, the flowers, or even the doors of our home. We take life for granted. How much better and more fulfilling would life be if we stopped, observed, and truly were present?