The Effect of Long Neglect

Yesterday I purchased some flowers to plant in the flower garden that is beside my back deck. This originally beautiful flower garden has become the garden where there is some pretty overgrown ground cover that blooms in Spring, and some ground cover that looks like it has been trampled.  The other flowers I've planted have died from neglect.  I didn't take the time and effort to make sure they were cared for properly.

Today I went to prepare the garden for the new flowers.  I pulled weeds, and more weeds. I had to get a big shovel to get some of the weeds out, and even remove some of the border bricks to get to the roots.  As I worked I got grumpier and grumpier.  I still haven't planted the flowers.  Maybe when it cools down in the evening I will.

It did dawn on me that, as is often the case, gardens are a good analogy for life.  The longer we neglect the good things we have -- good talents, good habits, etc. - the more those good things get covered with weeds, until maybe they die from neglect.  These things can be recovered, but it will take a lot more work than if we had just kept up with them in the first place!