In last month’s blog I included an opportunity for one reader to win a copy of the beloved book entitled, Chicken Soup For The Gardener’s Soul. All that was required was an email explaining why the reader felt they should win the book. I hope you will agree that the winner’s submission was more than worthy of the WIN! Enjoy and be encouraged…
AND THE WINNER IS…Catherine Burnett!
What a great idea in reaching out to the readers of your beautiful and newsworthy newsletter with a free gem of a read about a subject that brings universal joy…the garden! Btw, love the pics of your garden. You amaze me with how you find the time to develop such a beautiful touch on your delightful haven.
Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul would be a timely gift to this girl who has found herself coming out of a very dark season of back to back tragedies only to realize the pain is pushing me toward a deeper healing. In fact, I just had the privilege of speaking to a group of women about the butterfly’s journey, where while in the chrysalis, it’s own dark season, it has to persevere through the pain of a breakthrough experience to enter into the experience of free flight and the full realization of its intended purpose to bring us joy, beauty, and even greater life in all it touches.
While being bombarded with death, memorials, and a host of grieving heartbroken family members, I have found being outdoors and breathing in the beauty of flowers, hummingbirds, and butterflies healing to my soul.
One day during the peak of my pain, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed I wasn’t looking at the usual view…my old sedan. I had parked it elsewhere and to my surprise I was delighted to see the planter of Robellini Palms in the center of my lawn sprinkled with birds. That delight sparked an idea. I jumped on Amazon and purchased a pretty bird feeder, seed, and a stand to welcome even more feathery friends to the view, which has become my first step in creating chicken soup for my broken soul.
Then just a few days ago, I approached that same planter that was now accumulating very tall weeds from the droppings of seed by my feathery flock and decided it was time to weed. WOW! I forgot just how much energy it can take to pull one stubborn weed. Well, there were thousands in front of me in just one small planter. And the truth is, all of my planters seem to be mirroring the condition of my soul…in need of much TLC. As I got busy, I realized this weeding exercise was all part of the healing process to becoming fully alive. Each time I dug deep around the roots of the weed and pulled it out, it was like digging deep and pulling out a painful memory. It was so strenuous, I would have to sit back, take a few deep breaths, listen to the songs of the birds around me and thank God for His awe inspiring gift of nature and the colorful burgeoning life that it bestows, before attacking another.
The weedless base around my Robellinis has provided me an opportunity to dream about planting and building a new perspective. Weeds now represent the perspective of death to me, choking out all hope of life. I want to plant in such a way that I and all passersby are reminded of vibrant life and inspired to dream of it more abundantly so.
Needless to say, during this season of healing and recovery, I would greatly benefit from the inspirations tucked in the pages of Chicken Soup for a Gardener’s Soul. It would provide daily inspiration to keep digging out the elements of death and darkness and to conscientiously plant in the elements of color, life and light.
Now if I don’t win this lovely gift because of another more deserving soul, I will celebrate all the more knowing two things, they truly deserved it and I have already won in my nearly 25 year treasured friendship with you, Jen, that was birthed out of a real estate transaction. Yep! God is most definitely all about impactful real estate transactions! We could and should write a book about that amazing chapter in our lives…and it would most definitely be another version of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
