The Garden

If you’ve ever had a garden, be it flowers, vegetables or both, you know that once the flowers are planted and the seeds sown, weeds will eventually appear.  We don’t like weeds, do we?  I mean, horses think dandelions are a wonderful snack – yum yum – but they are a nuisance and if left unchecked they will spread and take over the garden, ruining it.  What do we do with those dandelions?  We pluck them out, root and all, and rid our gardens of them and we repeat that every season.  It’s not a “once and you’re done.”

Our minds are gardens and how we tend to our thoughts is much more important than how we tend to our flowers and our vegetables. 

Last year, during the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking, one of the Semi-Finalist’s, Pamela Rodney, gave a speech titled “Seeds.”  She spoke about the childhood bullying she had experienced in school saying, “The seeds [thoughts] in me [had] been planted by others and I watered them with my tears.”  She then changed course, “I set to work pulling weeds.  I planted my own seeds – ‘You are an amazing person with unlimited possibilities.’ – and I found new gardeners and restored my soul.  What’s in your garden?

When we plant seeds of good thoughts, the impact is reflected in how we feel.  When we have positive, constructive and healthy thoughts we feel accordingly be it happiness, peace, calmness, confidence and so on. 

But what about those negative seeds/thoughts?  They happen; that’s part of being human.  They require our attention and, many times, we need to pluck those weeds from our minds.  Negative thoughts can have a detrimental effect – affecting how we feel as well as our wellbeing – and they need to come out because they do not serve us well.

Guidance comes from Philippians 4:8 (ESV): “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  Notice that “true” thoughts come first.

To take it further, we can also consider what seeds others are sowing in us and what seeds we are sowing in them.  There are likely flowers blooming, and perhaps some weeds to pluck as well.    

What seeds are growing in the garden of your mind?

Are the flowers of good thoughts blooming? 

Are there weeds that need plucking?

What seeds are you planting in others’ gardens?

Recommended Resources

-          Article by Olga Pavuka – “Your Mind Is A Garden – Your Thoughts Are the Seeds” - https://www.deeph.io/your-mind-is-a-garden-your-thoughts-are-the-seeds/

Monthly Challenge

-          Reflect on the seeds you sow in your garden and the weeds you pluck out.  How does your garden look?

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