Taking a Moment

As a person that that lives life with a constant “to-do” list reeling through my head and driving the actions of my days, I find myself always missing out on the feeling of satisfaction that comes from a finished project. With each item that I(or anyone else in my house) am able to check off as complete, my mind quickly moves on to the next undone thing needing done. The inside of my head kind of looks like this:

And, while I enjoy the challenge of getting things done, always just getting things done and not taking a moment to appreciate the success, leaves me(and everyone else in my house) tired, grumpy, and weary.

This week as I bustled about from thing to thing I noticed my bearded irises were in full bloom. These flowers have become a favorite for Dear Husband and I after receiving and planting our first bulbs from a friend of Dear Husband’s many, many years ago. He generously shared a few of his bulbs from his flower bed during one of the many times a flourishing iris bed needs separating and replanting.

Flamboyant blooms on stately, splendid plants grace the garden in June. Bearded Irises are available in a veritable rainbow of colors, from vibrant primaries, to subtle bicolors and gentle pastels.  

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/how-to-grow-bearded-iris-reblooming-iris

But the thing about these beautiful flowers is that their blooming time is short and happens at a time when I am working at a furious pace to get all the “Spring things” done. Each year as I bustle about the blooming of these flowers goes by, I barely notice and I am left with the job of weeding out a bed of flowers that I don’t remember seeing.

Two years ago our original iris bed needed a re-do~ dig up, deep weeding, separate bulbs, and re-plant. When finished with this project I was left with bulbs that needed a new flower bed. So, once again, one finished project led to another project added to the to-do list. 

So, in the late August heat I spent two + weeks digging sod and soil, laying down a layer of newspaper for a weed block, mixing compose and humus into the original soil, and finally replanting the bulbs into their new home.

Once replanted, the iris bed will produce only a few blossoms in the first year, but in the second year they reward the gardener with a bed full of plants and showy flowers.

This past week this new bed of flowers was in full bloom and I made a concerted effort to pay attention! In making this effort I not only enjoyed God’s gift of beauty, but also got to celebrate a finished project. The efforts put forth two summers ago have yielded a bed of flowers to enjoy….for a moment. And so this year, I am going to take that moment…for soon enough the heat of August will be here again and the to-do list will still be long, but this year I won’t have regrets, I will have moments and memories.