January 04, 2023Arranging Things

I’m no whiz-bang in the yard work department, but I do remember a lesson I learned when first trying to grow flowers from seeds …

I had them in a container on the porch with the idea in mind that when the plants got to a reasonable size, I could transplant them exactly where I wanted them in the yard. ... I had a dreamy vision in my head of a bed of gorgeous flowers perfectly placed ... creatives like to arrange things, you know.

When the little seedlings began popping up, they looked so fragile and tender, and the yard looked so harsh and dangerous … I imagined that when the rain came my little babies would be pelted unmercifully by thundering raindrops. Here, safe on the porch in their container, I could water them gently … let’s let them get a little bigger before subjecting them to the harsh elements …

Days passed and they grew. The container wasn’t very large, and eventually the plants got to a size where they were getting all tangled up together. If I didn’t transplant them soon, it was going to be impossible to a separate them without tearing them up myself.

So out to the yard they went, and I was so pleased with myself … they were the perfect size for me to see exactly how to space them ... creatives love to arrange things, you know. My dreamy vision of a bed of gorgeous flowers was going to be a reality soon …

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

I had protected and babied them until they weren’t tough enough to handle the wind and rain and hot sun out in the yard. One by one my babies perished … so much for my dreamy vision of a bed of gorgeous flowers!

My lack of gardening skills is the reason why the plants in nurseries shudder with apprehension when I come strolling through. Getting purchased and taken home to my house is practically a death sentence. Still, I like to try, because I’m a creative and creatives like to arrange things, be it the elements in a layout or petunias in the garden.

Our intentions are good … we have dreamy visions of how we want it all to turn out, but, as all creatives know, what was intended and what actually results can be miles apart. There are obstacles in the way, and how we handle those obstacles will have a big impact on the results.

We can spend a lot of energy trying to avoid the obstacles, and like me and my flower seedlings, end up with nothing to show for all of our effort. The obstacles I was avoiding were exactly what the seedlings needed to make them grow strong.

So here we are again … another January and time to begin planning a new year, accessing progress of established goals and setting new goals.

Part of planning is trying to think ahead about what kind of obstacles we’ll encounter, and knowing for sure that we’re equipped and prepared to handle them when they pop up …