8th May 2024
I went to visit a friend recently and he was busy tending his garden.
Seeing me, He looked up & greeted me.
I could however see he was in a foul mood & suddenly he exclaimed exasperated,
“These weeds man, they are a pain, you know, I am out here every week pulling them and back they come”
I knew what I was going to say was going to annoy him but I also knew that he needed to hear it.
“You know, you really should be thanking the weeds,” I said.
He looked angry and said, “OK tell me why?”
I went ahead & told him, “If it was not for the weeds, he would not be in the garden, he would not get the exercise that he was getting, he would not tend to his garden, and it may go untended.
Because of the weeds, he comes out and makes sure that all the weeds are pulled, and the rest of the garden and his plants are healthy & his garden flourishes.
He looked up at me and smiled and said “I have to agree with you, these weeds actually keep my interest in the garden.”
You see weeds and problems in our lives are the same things, they are there to make us not fall into slumber and sleep life away, they are there to teach us & help us grow.
When we solve a problem in our life, just imagine how many others benefit from our experience,
Just imagine the clarity we get to march forward and teach something new to our children.
So don’t be afraid of your weeds and your problems, learn from them.
Thank your problems for teaching you and making you grow.
If we don’t pull the weeds, the plants don’t grow.
If we don’t accept and work on our problems neither do we grow.
Suzuki Roshi, the Zen master, said “Be grateful for the weeds you have in your mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.
As in meditation, it is the most difficult and relentless weeds that are also often the most enriching, and the most flavorful.”
The balance is always knowing what to pull, and what to keep, and always how to live with what stays.
Thank the weeds & be grateful for them, because they help us do the work to make our garden flourish & stay blessed forever.