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.