Taking Out Some FRUSTRATION on My CANNAS

Was busy last Saturday in my Lost and Found garden. I had been looking out there ...feeling all kinds of emotions. Then I started considering my cannas, my thug cannas all in my garden.

Yes, they can be pretty, but they have looked ratty for years now. And they can be invasive here in the South. Something, some little bad bugs, worms, whatever eat them ragged before they reach their full beauty.

That made me mad and frustrated at them. So I decided to rip those cannas out. I was feeling pretty strongly about it, looking forward to it.

Halfway done here, I worked diligently, satisfyingly... and ripped one by one out. Fairly easy except for a few.

I think I may have scared Maxine with all my pulling and tugging and grunting. So I stopped and loved her up.

She is super-sensitive, like me. Blessing sometimes , but I feel mainly a curse.

I  know you gardeners out there who can't grow cannas think I am bonkers, but they grow like wildfire here. My husband hates them, they get very ' yucky looking after a while. Fall over, messy plants.

See ? I am not going to spray chemicals all in my garden to kill whatever minuscule varmints are doing this.

Further yuck .

They look dead to me, and I don't want anything like that in my garden. I know exactly what all you philosophers and psychologists will say that means right now to me. And I can tell you that I already know what it means.

So I rip and I tug and it sates my frustration , for a very short time.

The bad boys. Down and out , but I know these guys like a book, they have roots that live forever.

A tangled mess of roots, and I KNOW I don't have them all out.

The babies coming out .Tons of roots below still . Makes me consider  another spiritual application in my garden concerning the ' roots of sin ', and how we think we can get rid of it on the surface of our lives ...but if we don't go deep enough , and extract the tap roots, or the jumbled up mass of roots that lead us to our own problems...then we won't ever conquer them.
Surface spirituality disgusts God. He knows when we leave the roots of our sins.

Back to my canna destruction therapy.

 Maxine comes over to check on me , well really she just wants me to cart these out to the curb so she can get free of the backyard and possibly harass a passing dog on the front sidewalk.
Or scare my mailman.

Further pitiful, yucky cannas I planted in the back that never even bloomed. 

I know that some smarty-pant gardeners out there will leave me a comment and let me know exactly what is eating these guys up.

Pitt-Tee-Full.
I rip these out too.

That's me in the very back, my little boy was taking some of these shots...as you can tell by his artistic angles..he is swinging on his swing doing this. That's what I get with a 9 year old. Beggars can't be choosers.

He loved getting the rainbow here, I was getting very hot, it was of course humid here. I would normally say this shot represents ' hope ' for me. Not really ready to receive it yet though. I can't even see it yet , much less receive it.

Ready for the curb, rainbow still revealing itself here. Never saw it in person, only showed up when we looked later at the shots. I'm betting God always sees rainbows around us.

Maxine ready to escort me to the curb.

Then Maxine and I come back, see my assistant photographer on his swing ? I wanted to sit here and see what I thought my garden looked like without the cannas.
Before:

I always liked their foliage.


After:

Opens up the garden quite a lot. I bet you are thinking, " I like the cannas in there better. "

But I sit back with Maxine, and look some more...

And I decide I am pleased . Petting her beautiful black coat is soothing too.

Life just keeps going on...regardless.


I encourage you to go rip something out of your garden, something that has always bugged you, but you have allowed it to stay.
It will feel good.


be safe,
Gina

Who REALLY Sees The REAL You ?

Hunting Art

I had a funny recollection the other day of a time when someone saw the real me. The me that I really don't want anyone to see...the one we all hide from the world most of the time.

The one God always sees first.

I had come back from an early morning walk late this summer, was sitting at my computer doing some eBay work...when I heard the doorbell ring, I looked up...I had not heard a car...and saw my daughter's car out in the driveway. This was my oldest daughter's car, she had only been home every now and then as she was finishing off her last year at law school. I was so happy she had come over ! I ran to the door, opened it quickly and said " Well HI !!!", with a big smile.

But to my utter horror , and shock ( most men will not understand this but the women will ,so bear with me), it was NOT my daughter but a good friend who used to be my Broker-in-Charge when I sold real estate. He stops by to visit with me every now and then , he is always dressed perfectly, button up shirt, tie, dress slacks. Plus he has always seen me at the office in nice clothes ( when I was a Realtor) , MAKE-UP on, looking sharp, well- groomed so to speak.

NOT this time.

Let's get back to my front porch...I see that it is him ( found out he was driving one of his kid's car that day ), I realize I am in running shorts, tank shirt, tennis shoes, NO MAKE-UP ( my biggest upset ), and I react like Dracula does in the movies  when he is exposed to sunlight --by screaming,  and covering my face, as if the light was blinding me. I then ramble on that I have no make-up on, I had just gotten back from a walk, I would NEVER had opened the door if I knew it was him , still covering my face with my hands, on and off.

He just stands there like I had lost all my marbles.

I then go on and on ( AGAIN ) , about how I would not have even opened the door if I knew it was him ( bet that made him feel good ), and I thought he was my daughter.

He just keeps looking at me like I am NUTS , with his well-pressed clothes on and his squezzie red real estate ball in his hand that he had brought for me with his name on it.

I then bend over, cover up my face again... and start laughing like crazy.
At myself.

Bet I made his day.

He then tries to tell me he had just come by to say, " Hi "..and hands me his squeezie ball , chats for a bit and leaves.

I told my husband this story later that day and he told me that I look fine with no make-up, I never need to wear any, and I am goofy ( he is too kind ).
I talked to him , my ex-broker on the phone yesterday about this incident...he pauses for a long time, like he doesn't remember...then he goes, " Oh YEAH, when you pitched a fit on your porch. " 
Wow, what an impression I left him with , very accurate ( I truthfully had hoped he  had forgotten it).
Blew my cover.

We then discussed how people change themselves, change their masks, for whatever crowd they are in at that time.

The truth is we ALL wear different masks, different faces to various people we encounter in our lives.
Sometimes we are the person we want to be, kind...solicitous, concerned,friendly , ready to help. Then we are the aggressive, or assertive gung-ho person that we want to project to make someone believe we are on top of what ever needs to be on top of. Then we put on our charming , 'everything is great' mask.
I think we have a happy mask, a pouty mask, a mad mask, a sexy mask,  a righteous mask, a ' no-problem' mask , an intelligent mask, the successful mask, the perfect family man or woman mask, a religious mask...on and on with all our handy disguises.
I think it is the REAL you, the authentic, genuine you...that may be the hardest thing to reveal.
It makes you vulnerable.
It can show your weaknesses and your strengths.
It can be scary to you and others.
It can reveal what you are hiding.
It may be what you are really NOT...to others.
You may feel it is not enough.

God sees us, all of us...no make-up, no shaved faces and combed hair.
He sees our hearts, He sees our motives, our desires.
So after you take your shower, when you come up to the mirror and wipe away the steam from it...and you look at yourself...
What do you see ?
I am not talking about the surface vision, what do you see inside ?
If you are pleased with your inner reflection, then you must be doing something right. If you are not...ask God how to show you to be more genuine, more you...less show, less bravado, less fake,  and more
REAL.
Stop being who you think everyone wants you to be , and simply be YOU.

GOD created you for a purpose, you are wonderfully made , He treasures each of us. I do not think He can use us in this world if we are not who we really are.
No put-ons, no pretense , no more falseness.
No more phoney-baloney.

This all starts with honesty and prayer. Work on what you do not like in yourself, praise God for what you do...as it all is from Him that is good and fruitful.
I know that I have lived long enough now to know that many people are NOT what they appear to be, NOT what they pretend to be, and NOT what they really  project to their family, co-workers, church members, or world. They are made up of words and busy-ness , lots of ' fluff' and less of what their spirit, their inner core of who they really are , contains.

Noticing this, makes me in turn... want to be MORE real .
I believe that is the only way God can use us , if we really are who we appear to be.
The REAL deal.
Genuine.
Authentic.
The TRUE you.


God made you for a purpose...and He can only use the ORIGINAL you that He created.



Bless you today,
Gina

"All is Vanity. " Ecclesiastes 12:8