Sunday, June 01, 2008

for discussion purposes only

If you were a gardening tool, what would you be? For example, are you a water can that gives refreshment and encourages growth? Are you a tiller that breaks up the hard ground, preapring it for the new season? Maybe a spreader, throwing fertilizer around. How about a trellis? Guiding and training the plants to grow in a certain direction.

What kind of gardening tool are you and why?

14 comments:

for a different kind of girl said...

As a mom raising little ones (well, sort of little now), I'm going to say watering can. By virtue of what htey mean to me, I am constantly showering these boys with love and nurturing them. Then there are times when I spend time sprinkling little drops of information and lessons on them, and when they take it in, I can see that they grow daily from it.

Anonymous said...

As much as I'd love to be a spreader chucking the fertilizer or the fence protecting the garden, I'm the tiller busting things up to ready them for a new and different time .....

Desmond Jones said...

Well, geez, I suppose, given my track record, that I could be a seed injector. . . But I think a manure spreader might be closer to the facts of the matter. . .

Phyllis Renée said...

Girl - That's how I've felt. Unfortunately, it took me a while to realize, as I was pouring myself into being a mom, I had to remember to refill the "water can" or there wasn't anything left to give.

XI - Somehow I can see that. So, do you think that it's difficult for others to see the good that you're working towards?

Des - Seed injector? That's hysterical!!

Anonymous said...

I would have to say fertilizer. I don't happen there naturally, and yet I still seem to add something to the garden.

Anonymous said...

See, the fun thing about being the tiller is that, for the most part, I am the only one who sees the need and can correlate the action to the effects. For an ego-maniac that is nothing but a rush! Pure power trip!

Yeah, right .....

Actually the truth is that when the work I do has positive results I'm typically the only one who notices, though once in a while someone else catches on. Our view of success only recognizes what was made, not what had to be un-made to make the solution possible. But it's all good 'cause my ego now knows to tell me "see, they're still completely clueless. Only you understand just how good you are!". Self-actualized genius, I tell ya!

OK, the truth- It's kinda discouraging sometimes. But then, God makes it all good just when you need it. Our retired senior Pastor and I had a precarious relationship because of my tilling and he and I spent many a meeting, many a discussion going head-to-head. Then he neared retirement and did some reflecting on his years of service which is when he realized there was a beneficial dynamic there that he had missed. After three decades of thinking of me as a rabble-rouser he now calls me a pillar of the church. privately and publicly. Which is making the elder board and new senior pastor uncomfortable now .... keep them tines-a-spinning!

Anonymous said...

P.S.- At work, same problems only the positives have never been recognized. Ah well.


Desmond the seed injector? Now that's pure type-casting says I!!

Therese in Heaven said...

I'd be a hoe. Haha!

Bogart said...

Never really thought about it...can I be different things in different roles? I mean, if I am the same tool everywhere, I probably am doing something wrong...right?

Anonymous said...

So you're the fertilizer itself, not the spreader. But what tool would you be?

XI - As long as we know we've done our jobs (or whatever) the best we can, done what's right, with the right attiude, then does it really matter if anyone notices?

Therese - I knew someone had to be the hoe, just wasn't expecting it to be you. :o)

Bogart - True, but what tool would describe you most of the time?

Phyllis Renée said...

Woops!! I accidentally hit the anon button. That last comment was really me. Promise.

FTN said...

Darn, Therese beat me to the joke.

Trueself said...

I think I'm the gardening gloves. I do better in a helper role than a leader role. I serve well and do my part and protect those that need protecting and just try to make the process a little less difficult.

Recovering Soul said...

I'd be a shovel.
Dig it?