Rock Garden Parenting

Mom was a big influence on me and my seven siblings. In thinking about the subtle ways she taught us, I realize she had a particularly effective one: Mom had a rock garden with a variety of different plants. We marveled at how beautifully she arranged them and how each spring she planned ways to improve her garden, regardless of how wonderful the garden looked the previous year. She shaped the sedum so that it didn't take over the ground where another plant was growing. She added a new plant and moved another to a spot with better drainage or better sunlight. She never gave up on a plant just because it hadn't done well last season. She'd say, "maybe this year it'll grow." And as we grew up and moved out on our own, she'd give us some starter bulbs and pots with seedlings she'd prepared for our own modest gardens.
When we came to visit she'd takes us to her in her garden where she taught us that relationships require weeding and cultivation, that people have different growing seasons, that even beautiful fragrant roses have thorns too, and that cross pollination helps new blooms develop. She taught us that patience and love are as important as food and shelter, and that after we've done our best, we have to leave things in God's hands ...