Transcription of Cultivate Your Life Podcast Episode 015: You’ve Planted Seeds But Haven’t Seen Anything Above Ground

Episode 015 of the Cultivate Your Life Podcast was released on April 24th, 2019. Listen here!

Lara: Do you feel like you need some fresh air? Let’s go into the garden together. You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them. The things that last longer than you, the things that run deeper and are more thrilling than sky diving. The things that make you come alive.

Lara: Welcome to the Cultivate Your Life podcast, where each week we talk about how to uncover what matters to you in the big picture, and start acting like it today. Whether you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or in need of some refreshing truth today, I’m Laura and you are in the right place. Let’s cultivate what matters together.

Lara: Well we have been busy bees out here in the garden lately. And speaking of busy bees, I have a very special guest here today. Hi Grace.

Grace: Hello.

Lara: So Gracie we are getting ready to plant our seeds aren’t we?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: Yeah. What kinds of things are we going to grow in the garden this year? Besides the glops, the mops, and the golden glops that your brother wants to grow. What do you want to grow?

Grace: And the snow.

Lara: And the snow, yes there was snow on his list too. What are some things that you’re looking forward to planting?

Grace: I’m looking forward to planting a watermelon seed, and some beans, and some peas.

Lara: Yes. That’s awesome.

Grace: For be bean teepee.

Lara: That’s right. So you went out and found some poles outside, and you put them all together in the shape of a big triangle. How does a bean teepee work?

Grace: The beans have to climb up it to make the teepee.

Lara: Ooh, that is going to be so fun. Are you going to sit underneath it?

Grace: Yes.

Lara: That’s awesome. Now there’s this crazy thing that happens though. So you and I, we spend a whole day usually, sometimes two or three days. We go out in the garden, what’s the first thing that we have to do before we plant our seeds?

Grace: Put little holes in the ground.

Lara: Yes.

Grace: With a pencil.

Lara: I was going to say, what do we use? We use a very fancy tool, a No. 2 pencil, and we poke holes in the ground. And then one by one we stick our seeds in there. And some of those seeds, are they really big seeds or are the super tiny?

Grace: They’re super tiny like about this big.

Lara: Oh yeah, like if you even put your fingers so close together you can’t even see in between your fingers they’re so small. And so we very carefully put one seed in each hole, sometimes two seeds just in case. And then we do all this work, I mean you think sometimes that planting seeds sounds easy right. But is it an easy job?

Grace: No.

Lara: No. Do we sweat?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: Yeah we do. And my glutes, they tend to burn half way through as we’re bending down over and over to plant all these seeds. So we do all this work and then we look out, and what do we see?

Grace: We don’t seed anything.

Lara: Oh that was a good joke, we don’t seed anything. Gracie that was good. So Grace is correct, you’re right. We do all this work, and we don’t seed anything. And you know that’s so very much like our lives. We do so much work on something, or we have a goal in our lives. And we work really hard, and we think to ourselves. Well I’m doing all this work, but how come I don’t see the visible results yet? How come I don’t see the finish line? And here’s what seeds teach us. What happens in about 7-21 days Gracie?

Grace: The seeds grow.

Lara: They do. And they are just the cutest little things that hook out of the ground. And what do we usually do when we see a seed poking out of the ground?

Grace: We shout.

Lara: We shout. I think our neighbors think we’re crazy probably right. But we do, it is cause for celebration. We jump around. And I tell you, just the adventure of … It’s like we’re detectives right, we go out there and we hunt for little tiny green shoots that appear above the ground. And it is a pretty cool thing when you see a seed pop out, right?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: Okay. Let’s take a little break right now. What time is it Grace? It’s joke time.

Grace: It’s joke time.

Lara: Do you have any jokes for us today?

Grace: What did the lettuce say to the bee at the party?

Lara: What did it say?

Grace: Lettuce turn up the beat.

Lara: That’s really funny. Very nice. And you know I think that daddy just sent me a text message. Let’s read what it says, oh, okay. Yes. Okay so, daddy knows that I did my gardening 101 class this past week. And the gardening 101 class, you can watch that class. It was a whole lot of fun, I gave tons of great information and tips on how to get started with gardening, no green thumb required. Go to gardeningwithlaura.com. But daddy knew that I did that class this week, and you know I held a chicken in the class?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: It was a lot of fun.

Grace: And then she got bugs all over her.

Lara: Yeah I did. Well you know bugs come with animals, and plants, and things. And I got a few bugs on me, and that’s okay. But, so he sent this message, and let’s see what it says. Oh, he says, “Gardening 101, it’s going to be fun to have a green thumb. Lettuce turn up the beat y’all.” Get it, lettuce turn up the beat. That’s like your joke you just said. “Gardening 101 you want a plant, but you’re stuck. You’ve tried to plant in the past, but nothing ever seems to last. Your boxes are full of weeds, and you’ve got horn worms on your leaves.” What do we say to that? Eewww. We’re wrinkling our noses. “Maybe this is the year, but you’ve going to get past the fear. A little knowhow wouldn’t hurt, like what’s the best kind of dirt.” Well daddy is a very good poet. It’s true, knowing what type of soil is very important. What do you think about dad’s poem?

Grace: To you? But of course I still have a poem myself.

Lara: You do? Okay, okay. You tell us your poem. Go for it.

Grace: Isn’t it funny that a rabbit or bunny has tons of money and a little bit of honey. Now isn’t that funny you see Pooh.

Lara: You know here at our house we really love Winnie the Pooh don’t we? We love to read those books. I think that we sometimes envision ourselves out in the garden, and we see those honey bees and we think, oh who would like to know where those honey bees live. Who would like that?

Grace: Winnie the Pooh.

Lara: Well as you can see friends we clearly have a lot of fun out here in the dirt together. Most people dismiss dirt as something that’s a nuisance inside your house and on your hands, but to us it’s like gold. It is the place where the seeds find their nest, and they pull those roots down deep, and they grow those shoots up high. And magical things happen in the dirt.

Lara: Gracie, you are the original gardener you know that?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: Who did we name this garden after?

Grace: Me. It’s name is Gracie’s Garden.

Lara: That’s right. That’s right. Well thanks for hanging out with me in the garden, and doing some poetry, and some fun. Is there anything else you’d like to say to everybody?

Grace: Bye bye.

Lara: See you later. So perhaps you have planted something in your life. Perhaps you’ve planted a dream, or started a project, or taken a few steps forward on something that really matters to you. And maybe you’ve taken a few steps backward too, and that’s okay. Little by little your progress will add up, even when you can’t see it, or feel it above the surface trust that there is something happening below the surface. If we were to take a bird’s eye view into the dirt and see what’s really happening with those seeds underneath, even though you can’t see something above the surface, there is so much happening. That seed is starting to push a root down into the ground, and start to unfurl above the ground. And before it pushes through that dirt towards the light above the surface it cracks through its outer shell. And it’s the same thing with us.

Lara: I have a special little gardening devotional that I love called In God’s Garden by Joyce Sackett, and this quote stood out to me. I thought I would share it with you. She says, “I like the look of buds. When I was younger I often wanted the process to hurry along for things to get growing for real, but now I see that the small starts are necessary and wonderful. There’s a timing to it all. If the growth happens too early or too fast it will be weak or frostbitten. Slow and steady is the usual pace of the garden.” “Today is very seldom like yesterday if people would note the difference,” wrote George McDonald. This is true of gardens. The secret of the garden is the wonder of the present moment, to notice and revel in it. It is to love what one has, however small, to see each day’s gifts, the goodness and greatness of our God. If we are only looking forward to the blossom, or the full leaf or pepper that will one day be on the plant, we will miss the beauty that today has to show us.

Lara: And as psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” And I will give that a new spin, that verse. How about, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And I am rejoicing in the fact that we will soon be planting our seeds. Now I’m more excited about the wait. And that always … You guys know me, makes me want to sing. I got a singing buddy here. Should we sing?

Grace: Yeah.

Lara: Okay great. What are we going to sing?

Grace: It’s time to plant the seeds. It’s time to plant the seeds. High ho the derry-o it’s time to plant the seeds.

Lara: Good job. Well friends, as always I love my time with you out here in the garden. And as always, step outside, smell the roses, and get your hands dirty.