Why Garden?

I don't follow many blogs, but one that I do glance at every once in a while is DigginFood, written by a gardener in Seattle. Recently she posted the question "Why do you garden?," to which over 120 people responded.

I will admit that I sometimes get bitter about my chosen work, especially lately when it's hot and the days are long and the work seems to never end. So being reminded of all the reasons why this is worth doing is really nice. There was one response in particular that resonated with me:

"Gardening helps me practice waiting (and appreciating the small changes that happen everyday with the waiting) and forgiving myself for accidentally killing my peppers.

I garden to make me a better person."

For me, gardening is so much more about becoming human than anything else, to the point that it makes it sometimes very scary. If I accidently kill most of my peppers (which I did), does this make me a bad person? My whole self feels hung on this venture, it is everything to me. Its success is my success and the prospect of its failure is the thing that drives me to work far past when I would like to have stopped.

Obviously I'm missing some of the greater lessons of becoming human that are a part of that response above, that little bit about patience and forgiveness, to which I would also add faith. I am much more than this work. Truly believing that I think is the key to continuing this work, as otherwise I will work myself to the bone pursuing something outside that can only be found inside.