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Even the Greenery

This past spring we planted our herb garden with the help of two of our nieces. The girls, who are four and five years old, were more than happy to dig and not afraid of getting dirty.


Grace is the four year old whom I call "Dipples" for obvious reasons. Dipples has a way of tugging on my heart strings with the cute things she says. Once when we were coloring she looked over at my drawing and asked, "Does your little cloud need a rainbow?" She then proceeded to draw a rainbow to accompany my lonely cloud.


After planting Dipples made another comment that immediately got filed in my long term memory bank.  She was pleased that I was giving the herbs a heavy watering because, "plants need sunshine, water, and the birds to sing to them."


My heart melted at her four year old perspective.


Little did I know this was not just an adorable Grace-izm but there is actually a sonic bloom theory. The idea is that the frequency of birds singing early in the morning helps plants open their cell stomata which allows them to absorb sun rays and water better.


My sister-in-law explains that Dipples learned this from her school curriculum, The Good and The Beautiful. I never learned such things in school but I love the concept!


God connected the birds and the plants together for growth. The benefits of this connection are not one-sided but mutually beneficial! It just seems that all life, even greenery, needs other life. 


This summer I learned my struggling house plant, in essence, needed community.  I don't have the best record with house plants but we were given a beautiful pot with a survivor-type plant that...well...did not survive. Because of the pot I decided to try again. The "unkillable" spider plant was soon going to mimic the "unsinkable" titanic, so I elicited help from the professionals.


I learned that my pot was too big for one plant, and the remedy was to add two more plants. My little community of plants has been thriving ever since.


Do not feel bad for needing connection. All of life was designed to be interconnected.


How do you feel about needing others?

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