Nothing That We Cherish Comes Easily

I have been working in our garden areas recently, which is code for weeding and installing mulch! I found this quote and it helped me put all that hard work into perspective.

A garden is a friend you can visit anytime.

– Anonymous

Anything in life that exudes excellence takes hard work and lots of time. Gardening, growing flowers, housework, cleaning, decorating, even just the day to day elements of life, ALL take a great deal of effort. It takes time and effort to be an adult, to build a place we call home. And that means someone – usually YOU – has to do some hard work. We can pay people to do some of it – yard work, cleaning, tree trimming, even decorating – and yet, in the end we must work to be able to pay those people to do those things for us.

What does all that have to do with this quote? These words reminded me that like friendship, the places we live require work and effort. Nothing that is of value in life comes to us without hard work, and effort. Having a friend, being a friend, takes effort. Building a garden takes effort. Building the place you call your own takes effort. And if we want to have the blessings of friendship and beauty in our lives, we have to be willing to do the work. And in the case of a beautiful garden, we have to weed and mulch, plant and cultivate in order to build a wonderful place/friend to visit. To have friends and a beautiful home, the same is true. We need to invest, build, share and spend time doing things that make a friendship and our home something we value above all else.

It’s starting to rain here – hooray – which means God is watering my gardens. Tomorrow I get to have lunch with a dear friend – another hooray! I cherish her like I do my home. Spending time with her, sharing our lives, is what makes me a better version of myself…which is how I feel when I see beautiful spaces on our property. So find your friend, your garden, where you can be the best version of yourself. And above all else, be willing to do the work to reap the benefits. Nothing that we cherish comes easily.