Life is full of both puzzles & gardens. Puzzles where either you know what the answer needs to be but you must put the pieces in their right order (think jig saw puzzle) or puzzles where you don’t know the full picture but need some skill in completing them (think crosswords).
Gardens are a bit different. You don’t have the complete picture like what you see on the jig saw puzzle box. Neither do you need exceptional skill to complete it. What is different with gardens, is you need to have some type of vision as to what you want to enjoy in the end and a basic plan on how to build it.
Yes, you can pick a certain type of jig saw puzzle (say buildings, or animals, or super heroes) and you can gravitate to crossword puzzles from a certain newspaper or magazine. When creating a garden, more of you is needed for its creation.
How big? What type of plants do you want to grow? Beautiful roses or home grown tomatoes? Will it include decorative rocks or a beautiful small waterfall?
Both puzzles and gardens require time to complete. Puzzles work on your schedule. Gardens never do. Weeds and uneven rain reminds us of the need to keep caring. Puzzles remind us to keep trying. Gardens take a lot of work and much more time to grow.
Crosswords can surprise us when they teach us a new word. Puzzles challenge our patience. A garden’s imperfections reminds us to always find the beauty in whatever we do with love and care.
Puzzles & gardens remind us that not only are we different, but the situations we find ourselves are as well. Providing us with different challenges, rewards, and opportunities to learn.
(As long as you remember not to get frustrated when either they appear or are chosen by us to pursue.)