I don’t need everything to grow perfectly to learn something from growing it.

Currently Growing

There is almost always something growing in the literal and proverbial garden around here.

Some things are thriving. Some things are trying. And some things I am still deciding whether I can officially call a success.

Maybe that sounds familiar.

You may have something in your life that is growing beautifully right now. You may have something you’re doing everything you know to do for, and it still isn’t looking the way you thought it would. Or maybe you’re somewhere in the middle; watching, waiting, and wondering if anything is actually happening.

Welcome to the garden.

Around here, we don’t only talk about what we’re growing. We pay attention to what growing things can teach us.

In the Garden

Right now, I’m growing Big Mama tomatoes, squash (kind of), California Wonder bell peppers, sweet peppers, two Sugar Baby watermelons, heirloom sweet corn, zucchini (maybe), parsnips, carrots, pumpkins, cucumbers, blueberry bushes, a grapevine, mandevilla, cannas, gladiolus, and an assortment of other random plants that somehow found their way into my garden.

Some are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do.

Others…we’ll see.

I’ve learned that I don’t need everything to grow perfectly to enjoy growing it. Half the fun is seeing what happens.

And maybe that’s true outside of the garden too.

What Are You Growing?

You don’t have to own a garden to be growing something.

Maybe you’re growing a family. A business. A friendship. Your faith. A new idea. A healthier way of living. Maybe you’re rebuilding something you thought would have been much further along by now.

I’m growing things like that too.

I’m raising three humans to be kind and loving. I’m growing a healthier relationship with work and rest. I’m learning what it means to be fruitful as a caregiver.

I’m also growing a business and ministry around a simple but slightly unusual idea: Think Like a Plant.

It started because I couldn’t stop noticing how often the things happening in my garden reminded me of things happening in my life.

Those observations eventually became my book, Why Plants Die and Other Happy Thoughts. Now I’m watching people find pieces of their own stories inside of it in ways I couldn’t have completely predicted when I wrote it.

And I’m continuing the conversation in my next book because, apparently, the plants still have more to say.

How I Became This Kind of Gardener

I used to be the gardener who read the back of a seed packet, put the seeds in the ground at exactly the time it said, and just knew everything was going to work.

Boy, was I wrong!

There’s nothing wrong with following directions. I still do.

But somewhere along the way, I learned that the directions are a guide. You still have to pay attention to what’s actually happening in your garden.

The soil matters.

The weather matters.

What’s planted nearby matters.

And sometimes, what’s trying to eat your tomatoes matters.

At one house, I lived near a tree lawn full of deer that apparently believed my tomatoes were planted for them.

I put up a fence.

Then I needed a bigger fence.

Eventually, I realized something.

The tomatoes weren’t the problem. Access was.

What I was growing needed protection.

Of course, I turned that into a life lesson.

Because if you have something growing, other living things will be attracted to the fruit.

Some will be predators.

Some will be pollinators.

Some will help.

Some will take.

Learning the difference matters.

That was when protection stopped feeling like fear to me and started looking more like stewardship.

And I started wondering where else in my life I needed to pay attention to what I was allowing access to the things God had given me to grow.

That’s what the garden keeps doing to me.

It gives me ordinary problems that somehow make me ask better questions about my own life.

Eventually, it only made sense to start thinking like a plant.

Welcome to the Garden

That’s what Think Like a Plant embodies at Roots OMG.

This is a place for growing minds, imperfect gardens, unexpected seasons, things that didn’t grow the first time, things that somehow did, and the lessons we discover while paying attention to all of it.

I believe God has placed wisdom all throughout His creation. Sometimes we just have to slow down long enough to notice it.

So while you’re here, I hope you don’t only learn what’s growing in my garden.

I hope you start noticing what’s growing in yours.

What’s currently growing in your life?

And if you know someone who’s in the middle of growing through something, invite them into the garden at Roots OMG too. Here is the link

There’s room for a new perspective.