Seed Catalogs

Seed catalogs have started to come in the mail again.  I suppose that there are some folks out there that don't get any of these colorful reminders that spring is on its way, but I get plenty of them.

I suppose it is a little amusing that at the beginning of February, I can go outside to shovel my driveway and then come inside and flip through a catalog and decide what I will plant in the spring.

I always look through these catalogs and circle the seeds that I want.  I guess you could call it the contemplation stage, because once the seeds are ordered and begin to arrive, I have committed to a certain level of work.

None of the seeds I have ever purchase plant themselves or weed themselves (you would think here in the twenty first century we would be there, but not yet).  Somehow it takes a lot of effort to get seeds from being little tiny bits of potential to something that actually bears fruit.

I suppose that is why I like gardening so much.  What you get from your garden bears direct relationship to the effort that you put into it.

Perhaps it is easy to think that the rest of life is different.  Certainly some people inherit lots of money or seem to get promotions without really trying, but for the things that matter most -- relationships with friends, family, and God, there are no short cuts.  We get out exactly what we put in.