OK. Things are a bit ugly here. This certainly isn’t the pretty picture that will win me any blog awards. But to show you only the pretty pictures, isn’t real life. To portray only the beautiful, misses the true and the good. It leaves out the messy, sometimes ugly part of beginning growth. If things are looking slimy and moldy, that doesn’t mean its time to give up.

I almost purchased new eggplant seeds. These didn’t show much promise with black mold growing. But, from experience, I know that eggplant seeds can take time. Although the seeds look like tomato seeds, tomatoes sprout quickly. Eggplant seeds, on the other hand, take their time. They need patience with a little more warmth, a little more time….

Several of these peppers had sprouted a week ago. These particular seeds were just slow and needed more warmth and time. Grace and patience.

 

When things get black with mold and foreign substance begins to show, don’t despair. Waiting with patience and grace, might be what is needed for the beginnings of our garden.

When we are working in the realm of Living, whether its seeds or people, lumping  together and measuring by the same criteria, doesn’t allow for life. When we have expectations of how it should be, we stifle the creative spirit – we stifle the Creator. Living beings don’t work in the quantifiable, measurable, predictable realm. Living souls need space and room to grow, time with needs being met. Though living things universally share commonalities, each are particular, individual. Someday, not too long from now, these little moldy seeds – nearly enveloped by the dark, will produce what they were meant for- fulfilling their good purpose. I’ll have smooth, shiny, violet eggplants dangling from sturdy stems, round, scarlet, juicy red peppers for lunch, and silvery aromatic sage leaves to flavor chicken broth. But it takes not giving up on the seeds, not throwing our hands up when it all looks hopeless and dead. Waiting, watching. Some good things are slow. The truth is, we all need grace. Then, often, comes the real beauty. Sometimes growth and life can sprout, just when we least expect it.