Gardening is a passion of mine. There is something special and therapeutic about digging in the dirt and being a part of the process of creating a beautiful landscape. When I moved to the Central Oregon Coast almost eight years ago I had to learn a whole new way of gardening. I had moved from the Sacramento Valley, a place that is known for its hot summers. It wasn't unusual for us to have several weeks at a stretch of 100+ days.

Not so on the Central Oregon Coast. If we hit 80, it's highly unusual, maybe happens once a summer. It is considered a major heat wave and the locals can't stand it. The average summer temperature is about 65 degrees. Fine by me.I had no problem at all with the cooler weather. I'd lived in that Sacramento summer heat for 27 years. Enough is enough! I had looked so forward to being able to sit outside without sweat pouring down my back. I dreamed of a nice coastal garden like I had seen in magazines. Boy, did I have a lot to learn.

I was used to planting roses, marigolds, zinnias and the like. All those heat loving plants! Those things would never grow around here. What was I to do? After some trial and error, I figured out the best way to go about it. I just starting looking around my neighborhood. What was growing in other people's yards? Why reinvent the wheel? Find the things that grew well in other people's yards and plant some of the same. That worked pretty well. Then every once in a while I would try something that I hadn't seen locally and guess what, it would usually die. So, the things that did well, like fuchsias, azaleas, peonies, I would plant more of, but the things that didn't I would yank out. Now my garden is looking pretty good.

I realized that this is a lot like my spiritual life. I need to look at the things that are growing well in my life. Those are the things that I need to plant more of.  Sow the seeds of kindness, forgiveness, patience, etc. And those things that are not good, I need to yank them out by the root. Goodbye to envy, unkindness, impatience, stubbornness, unselfishness, etc. . These things have no place in the soil of my life. Any just like in my garden, I want to look around and learn from those who are emulating the behavior of Christ. Christlike behavior is what I want to exhibit in my own life. Then just like a beautiful garden, my life can bring joy to the lives of others.