{"id":10347,"date":"2015-05-05T16:34:22","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10347"},"modified":"2015-05-05T16:34:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:34:22","slug":"reward-benefits-and-roses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/05\/reward-benefits-and-roses.html","title":{"rendered":"reward, benefits, and roses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"the<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is what I’m focusing on right now. NOT my aching back (from weeding all yesterday morning.) NOT the front beds, still to be done. NOT the sad meeting with a lawyer today, and the overwhelming feeling I have that life isn’t fair.<\/p>\n

Nope. I’m inhaling purple sage & Abraham Darby climbing roses. Planted 10+ years ago, and now in fine health. All those springs & summer & autumns & even winters — watering, pruning, feeding w\/ organic rose food, mulching w\/ cedar and leaves. All that WORK, in other words. Blooming tangibly, fragrantly, beautifully.<\/p>\n

But you know what? I work hard at many things, and don’t get fragrant roses & purple spires for my effort. I can grade papers for hours and only have a cramped brain to show for it. I can mop the kitchen floor and the dogs return it to muddy chaos in moments. And don’t get me started on the Sisyphean task of laundry!<\/p>\n

This is why I love gardening — it rewards<\/i> you. Obviously. Materially. \u00a0Not even touching on things like exercise, healthy air, the tranquillising green medicine of leaves and being outside.<\/p>\n

So today? I’m looking for the material rewards (I’m such a baby) that grow from the work I put in that seems thankless: cleaning, LAUNDRY (notice a theme?), making beds. Grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments. Even, sometimes, the progress I try to make in beginner’s heart. Because all too often what I see isn’t where I’ve come from. It’s where I haven’t arrived yet: that nebulous place always over the horizon that would feel like success.<\/p>\n

I suspect it will smell like roses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is what I’m focusing on right now. NOT my aching back (from weeding all yesterday morning.) NOT the front beds, still to be done. NOT the sad meeting with a lawyer today, and the overwhelming feeling I have that life isn’t fair. Nope. I’m inhaling purple sage & Abraham Darby climbing roses. Planted 10+…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[552,376,1003],"tags":[11,1181,262,1277,905],"class_list":["post-10347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beginners-heart-2","category-gardening","category-roses","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-gardening","tag-roses"],"yoast_head":"\nreward, benefits, and roses - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is what I'm focusing on right now. 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