To Begin With

I had a list of new things to do and learn while Chris is on his mission, (piano, German, sewing.) Things to develop into daily habits (getting up earlier, yoga) habits to break (staying up too late, biting nails.) And a bunch of other things that fall somewhere inbetween. I was going to kind of write about them on this blog as a way to keep track of it all and kind of encourage myself. I had the list, but I am going to have to think about it a little more. I am not so sure what I am going to be writing about on here. I will have to find the balance between writing for myself, writing what other people would care to read, as well as what I would feel okay with other people knowing about. We will see!

One of the things I wanted to do was start a garden (garten, as Chris would say in German) and kind of write about the experience. Well, its a little late since I started my garten already. I truly enjoy working in it and making it better everyday. But don't worry, I am not going to blog about it on a regular basis! As Chris has informed me, hearing about my garten is cute in general, but the details are not very interesting. So if the love of my life doesn't care to hear about it, I doubt anyone else will either!

But it has made me happy. It has given me a little bit more structure to my day. It is a little thing I look forward to and feel good about doing. Plus, it is really is cute.

Everyday I see a new way having a garten is similar to... having a self. How weeds can start to take over the fruit, if you dont get down on your knees and pull them out. It is easy to ignore them while they are so small, but then over night, they have taken over. If you wait too long to pull them, their roots will get tangled with the good plants, and removing them will cause damage to the plant you wanted to save.

I like that putting in a little work into my garten on a daily basis makes a visable difference in the long run. I kind of relate that to losing weight, studying, saving money and even waiting for Chris. It is a slow process that only shows success if you are consistant and dedicated, everyday. I didn't have that kind of discipline growing up. It's something I have had to learn through a lot of failure, and finally, with much success. Sure, skipping a work out, splurging on some shoes, or not pulling weeds one day doesn't seem like a a big deal. But I have learned that those seemingly small daily choices DO make all the difference in the world.

Lastly, I like that we just learned in Institute that ALL living things, including plants, herbs and flowers, were created spiritually, before they were created physically. So they have little spirits. How lovely is that?