Hi everyone ~
Today at church our new, temporary priest made a fascinating remark I thought you all might enjoy pondering.
He is a retired psychologist, so he tends to wax psychological in his reflections, but I thought this was quite worthy of notice.
He said when relationships of any kind go bad or hit a snag, we should try not to take a "mechanics view" of the person and see "what needs fixed". As in
There's something wrong with this guy or
this girl needs a couple of parts replaced! He suggested that instead of that, we try to take A GARDENER'S VIEW of the situation and person. A gardener doesn't start tinkering with the
plant itself when it gets in trouble, or simply throws it out.
A Gardener looks at the total environment for the
plant and trys to make sure it is getting all that it needs in terms of light, water, proper soil, protection from pests and preditors, etc.
We never stand there all a-frowny saying "You bad
plant!" Nope. We try a little of this, and a little of that, anything we can think of that might make our little
plant flourish again!
And along with that, the Gardener doesn't say "Now listen here, Little
plant! I know I am right about you, so straighten up and do what I say!"
I don't know about the rest of you, but I am inclined to talk to my
plants when I am caring for them. I say encouraging stuff all the time, even when I am very concerned that one isn't doing so well.
Anyway, I thought his point of view was interesting and just wanted to share the tidbit with you.
Your thoughts?
Merme