Let Love Grow: Gardening & Marriage
Let me tell you a little story. When my husband and I first got married, I didn't know a single thing about gardening. I was a horrible cook (unless you asked for spaghetti!) and the thought of growing my own produce seemed really daunting to me. We spent our honeymoon in Spain, and I was in awe of all of the beautiful, fresh food we were easily able to get our hands on, and how easy it looked to prepare. Both my husband and I came home with a sense of energy about gardening, growing our own food, and using our own food to prepare meals. That's honestly how we became interested in gardening.
A few months after we got married, we bought our first home together, and that spring we planted our first garden. I was instantly hooked. I checked my garden every single day (I still do to this day - I'm always amazed at watching how the plants grow and change every day) and gave it the TLC it needed. That first year, I learned what vegetables I was good at growing and what vegetables I should probably just purchase from the farmer's market. I learned what I should grow more of because I love to eat it, and what I probably didn't need to grow at all, even if I was good at it. I also learned that I really didn't need to plant an entire bed of herbs because, y'all, herbs grow like weeds and I had way more cilantro, basil, mint, and oregano than I knew what to do with!
Gardening started off as just that for me - a hobby that I could use to lower my grocery bill and eat more fresh produce without batting an eye.
Since then, though, gardening has planted a much bigger seed in my heart than I could have ever thought possible. God really does work in mysterious ways, doesn't He?
The art of gardening has taught me:
- Steps to take to nourish my marriage (and any relationship, for that matter)
- How to creatively spend time and communicate with my husband
- When I need to "prune" toxicities out of my life
- How to be a healthier individual (emotionally and physically) for my husband and my family
I'm sure you're thinking..."Seriously? How in the world can you learn that just from planting a few tomatoes?" Believe me, if you had asked me that a few years ago, I would have wondered the exact same thing. It's taken a lot of soul-searching and contemplating, but I honestly can't imagine my marriage without the concepts of gardening in it anymore.
Beginning in just a few short weeks, I'll begin sharing stories here from other couples who have used the concepts of gardening in their marriage and they didn't even know it! You might already be doing some of these concepts in your own relationship! I'll also be sending out weekly activities and discussion questions to email subscribers throughout the month of August to show you exactly how you can use the concepts of gardening to strengthen and nourish your own marriage, and I hope you'll join me! Happy and fulfilled marriages aren't always easy (hello, overtime hours, kids activities, and endless loads of laundry!), but they are so worth it and you and your spouse are so deserving of a fulfilling marriage.
