The Garden in Perfection

There are times when something strikes you, something that is all too familiar but buried so deep in the ordinary that you fail to take notice. As it happens, one day it is as if a curtain is lifted and you become awed at its existence.  Today is one of those times. 

As I approached the garden I saw what nature intended, what God designed in His perfectness. In the late morning sunshine the squash spread open its blossoms enticing the bumbles into its very depths, dusting countless hairs and coating every leg with the sweet life creating pollen.   

Arched leaves drooped in thirst on this mild but unusually dry morning.  Before watering I check each leaf for pests, surprised by the discovery of adults and nymphs surrounding a patch of perfectly aligned jeweled eggs, deeply dark and ready to burst with replacements for their comrades that perished at the hands of both man and beast.

The bumbles calmly part allowing me to turn over leaves that lay in their flight plan. I imagine to myself that they are part of the alliance of arachnids, beneficial insects, bees, fowl and human that depend on my bounty.   With God's favor, this is the year it all comes together.  A wet, cool spring to establish roots, gifted compost to provide nutrients, the discovery of wild amaranth luring pests away which allow my vines to flower, and now the sunshine, the warmth that will allow the fruits to mature. 

For this I plant, for this I hope.