The hardening off process for all the garden plants, those started indoors and those pre-purchased early in eager anticipation, has come and gone.

This shift and change of season for me has allowed me to practice slowing down more. I’ve been able to find more enjoyment in the routine nature of putting my plants outside everyday and bringing them back in when it’s time.

It has felt less like a task this year. Less like another to do list item that just has to get done.

I don’t know if it is just the environmental shift in my own ecosystem that has released the pressure in some areas, allowing me more time to enjoy the things I love. As much as an ecosystem shift doesn’t seem like an answer to prayer, maybe it is. Maybe it is what has allowed me to slow down and it is stretching me to find more peace in the every day. Is it God answering my prayers to be more present and to be a better steward of what he has blessed me with?

As much as I try to do it on my own and not depend on others, I think He’s been teaching me over the last year, and even now still, that I need others in my ecosystem. That it can take a team to steward the blessings sometimes.

That asking for help or letting others help when they offer relieves the pressure. Relieves the feeling of falling behind. Letting peace have a doorway in.

Good stewardship IS teamwork.

When I look at the hardening off process a little deeper, I can see the truth of it even in my garden. Those plants have to go through a strengthening process on their own so that they can be part of a community. While each plant is responsible for producing its own harvest, the plants need each other to thrive. A plant relies on the others around it to attract pollinators, nourish the soil, provide defence against bugs, etc. Plants weren’t meant to do it on their own either. So why should we?

With grace and peace,

Jo