SOW’IN & REAP’IN: THE TIME FACTOR
Melody Bojang, RD, LDN
I didn’t realize that I have succumbed to the falsehood that everything comes in an instant.
Amazingly it must have happen somewhere between 3G and 4G (i.e.-network speeds), search engines, instant messaging, text messages and the GPS. Everything I need is just one button push away. As a matter of fact, my body actually cringes when I have to wait. You know what I am talking about: that tension you feel as your eyes scan the gadget of choice and the physiological reaction you have if more that 2.5 seconds pass without some data to answer your query.
So this week when I walked in the garden, my psyche was taken back as my eyes scanned the dark earth for some sign of the labor I put in. Surely, my sore arms and legs did not deceive me. My blistered hands did something last week, didn’t they? “Where are my results?” My brain and eyes are confused, isn’t this the 21st Century? Upon taking a deep breath and tuning in to the birds singing and the mosquitoes swarming around my neck, reality sank in. The cabbage and eggplant seeds that I delicately pushed into the soil last week; will undergo a change that is far from instant. Aside from the obvious fact that H2O is a necessity; the right amount of oxygen, and nutrients via the soil will inevitably result in a lesson on what I did right or possibly what was done wrong. So far by my interpretation of things, nature is on my side: it rained a few days last week and I can see very small green stuff peeking through the dirt in the area I planted. They are not weeds- an assessment confirmed by an individual I consider an expert. With this in mind I am happy to report that it feels good working toward something that is not instant. A true sense of appreciation is growing inside of me. How something is and what it can become has a huge range, but within that range lies cause and effect. Everything I do, or don’t do will have a result. That being said, we should walk through our days being mindful of our actions and the consequences because whether a relationship, our health, the seen or unseen-a garden is not the only place in life that REAP’IN what we SOW apply.