In Full Bloom

The Peek Perspective on Gardening…and other life things

I’m a pharmacist. I absolutely appreciate the gift of modern medicine and all of the options available to treat so many ailments. But I also believe in the power of a good barefoot walk in the grass, sun on your face, and literally stopping to smell the roses in your backyard, as medicine for the soul.

This is our first spring season in our current home, and it has brought the most beautiful surprises nearly every day, as bulbs have pushed their way through the dirt and burst into beautiful color. I’ve made it a point to walk the perimeter of our property nearly every day to see what has blossomed since the day before.

This is also our 4th home where we’ve planted a garden. Our past gardens have ranged from carefully plotted vegetable gardens to elaborate raised beds with pollinator varieties galore, and blackberries climbing an overhead trellis.

But before you start to get too impressed (or annoyed at the dreaminess I just described), now is probably a good time to tell you that I do not have a green thumb. I’m what we shall call… gardener-adjacent.

Those roses, lilies, peonies that have sprung up all around our property?! They were planted by the previous home owner. Someone clearly had an eye for landscaping around here because they thought of everything. A terraced garden wall, a double waterfall cascading into a pond, flowers lining the creek…I’m just a lucky recipient of the beauty that resulted.

And those gardens I just mentioned?! The other Dr. Peek gets all the credit. He spends hours researching, planning, and nurturing seedlings under a lamp light in our garage before putting them into the ground (yes, we are pharmacists, but we aren’t that kind… though our miniature greenhouse through the garage window is sure to raise some eyebrows from anyone looking closely enough…)

I have a habit of showing up on planting day. When the soil has already been prepped. When my husband has mapped out the planting pattern. And after my master-gardener father has given us all his tips. I just show up, joyfully push seeds into the dirt as instructed, and take all the photos. And make cute garden labels to stake in the ground.

It takes all kinds, right?!

Sometimes you’re the gardener, and sometimes you’re just the photographer (carefully observing others’ efforts) or the harvester (reaping the benefits of the seeds that have been sown).

I used to think if you work hard enough in life, you’ll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Now I know that sometimes even when you’re diligently planting seeds and cultivating the soil in your life, pouring your heart into a relationship, project, or organization…the effort doesn’t necessarily always equal the outcome. Sometimes the fruit that comes from your labor isn’t for your benefit. Sometimes, it’s for someone else’s.

I was in a role in recent years that I poured so much of my energy and time into, only to be met with resistance from a system that I simply couldn't change. As a recovering perfectionist, it was excruciating to know that my efforts didn’t seem to make a dent in the vast challenges that organization faced. But I kept my head down, kept digging in that soil, kept uncovering inconvenient truths that needed addressed. I planted seeds along the way, but they seemed to be swept away with each gust of wind that came my way. After my season had endured, I finally turned in my gardening gloves and walked away, not sure if anything would bloom as a result of my efforts.

Now? That garden appears to be thriving at least from the outside. Dead things have come to life, and flowers have pushed their way through the seemingly impossible soil. It takes the efforts of many gardeners to change a culture, an organization, or a relational cycle and you don’t always get to be the one harvesting the blooms.

Are you in a seemingly impossible season where you aren’t seeing the results of your efforts? Have you been the one plotting the garden, tilling the soil, carefully planting seeds, with no apparent immediate return? (Parenting in a difficult season, perhaps?!)

Rest assured that your effort is never wasted. You may not see it now, but if you trust the process, good things will grow. You may not even be the one who harvests the fruit in this season, but good things will come from the good seed you’ve sown. It may be for someone else, in another season, for another purpose. But you’ll learn more in the process of preparation, the time spent digging in the soil, the seeds carefully planted along the way.

And chances are, from time to time you’ll be the lucky one who benefitted from someone else’s efforts. Even if you just showed up on planting day.

If you need me, I’ll just be over here barefoot in my backyard, making bouquets from the abundant flowers in full bloom... none of which I planted.

Gratefully gardener-adjacent,

-Dr. Peek