Slug it out.
Definition of slug it out
informal
1. : to fight or compete over something
until one side wins
I can tell that life is slowing down because I have more
moments of musing over obscure thoughts during the day.
I love it.
During the busy-ness of the school year, I embrace all of
the craziness that is board meetings, music practices, hockey, skating, soccer,
clubs, etc. But right now, on my deck, I’m soaking in the calm.
…It helps that child 1 is at school, child 2 is with cousins
and grandma/grandpa at the lake, and child 3 is shadowing papa around the yard,
in and out of miscellaneous farm equipment.
Ahhhhh…..
I just finished tidying my yard and watering my garden. My
garden is a place I often find myself pondering life and funny little analogies/object
lessons that could be used to teach some greater life concept.
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| It was windy... ;) AND, yes, we do have a section for tractors in my garden. |
I have a garden hose that I use to water my garden, but
unlike you city-folk the water that I use comes from a dugout on our yard. I
often think that I can smell the lake and one major reminder that I’m not using
filtered city water is when my water pressure goes from strong and steady to a
trickle in a split second. Pump issues, some of you are thinking… but you’re
wrong. (Well, it’s not usually pump issues ;)
Slugs
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| My resident slug-hunter. |
Frequently, when I’m watering a plant, I’ll feel a mild kick back on my hose. Kinda like what you feel on some motorized vehicle/toy, when the engine backfires. (Or not at all like that ;) but work with me…) There’s a momentary stoppage of water and then it explodes out of the end of the hose, sending with it some slimy little slug to fertilize my plants. Sometimes, the water slows to a slow trickle and I nervously fiddle with the end of the hose, very aware that at any moment the water could force that trespassing sucker out into space… hopefully it’s not the space that my face occupies as I examine the hose!!
ANYWAY… the phrase “slug it out” whirled around in my mind
as I made my way through my garden and today, I actually have a little time to
flesh the thought out on paper (computer screen).
Slug. It. Out.
Isn’t that what our whole life is?
We put effort into making our lives, the lives of our loved
ones and those in our community and then the world, better. Nearly all of us
have that same goal, so then what are we fighting against? What is our
opposition? How do you “win?”
Deep thoughts this morning in the Schultz garden…
I feel like there are so many philosophical/theological directions
one could take this thought and now, sitting here on my garden swing, I’m
slightly overwhelmed by it all.
I’m going to choose the cheesy route and run with my
slug/garden analogy. I’ll let you ponder your own deeper thoughts rather than
tainting them with my own lengthy personal interpretations. ;)
The garden is our lives, my friends. We need to
water/nurture it to help it grow. Sometimes, you’ll get a slug that plugs up
your hose, prohibiting the life-giving water from helping your garden to
thrive. It may be a small slug that passes through the hose quickly, allowing
the water to resume without much interruption. It may be a large slug that
causes the water to stop completely and it may need special intervention to
extract it and enable the water to flow again. When a slug does pass through
the hose and onto the soil, it may even be that it composts to enrich the soil
and actually help your garden to thrive. Slug. It. Out.
Life is too short to allow slugs to remain in your hose too
long. ;)
As someone who believes that there is a God who made us,
loves us and desires relationship with us, I can’t help but think that along
with striving to make this world a better place, my purpose is also to bring
hope to others. HE is the best slug-extractor there is.
Slug it out, my friends.
