Nourishing Relationships

As Spring arrives our minds turn to the foliage growing, blossoming, and flourishing around us. So often I remember my husband telling me as he planted roses in his rose garden that the holes dug to plant them in should be more than twice the size of the ball going into the hole and quite deep. Often I tried to help him and he instructed me as we worked. I listened because I knew that he knew and that he had been well schooled in the "art of gardening" having been tutored by his father as he grew up on a farm in a county south of Raleigh. Over and over again we did this throughout our years together. Always his roses, shrubs, trees, and gardens flourished.
I never gave much thought to likening it to building relationships until I heard the following message by Lloyd Newell with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast. I have taken the liberty of printing it here. Perhaps it will be meaningful to you as well. As with any relationship we develop and nourish the one we carve out and mold with our eternal partner is one worthy of the best we have to give in energy and devotion.

"The Roots of Meaningful Relationships"
March 7, 2010, Broadcast #4199


The weather began to change, and a man felt inclined to plant something outside in the cold earth. After a hard winter of dark skies and icy storms, the prospect of digging in the ground warmed his heart. So he did some homework, researched the best tree for his chosen spot, and went to see an expert.
The master gardener had this counsel: "Don't plant a hundred-dollar tree in a ten-dollar hole! The roots of the tree," he explained, "must have room to expand and to absorb the nutrients from the soil. Also, the tree must be planted deep enough so that the roots can move into the soil and give the plant stability. If it's planted right, you can expect it will grow into a beautiful tree and last a long time."1

Good advice--not just for planting trees but also for building relationships. Both trees and relationships grow best in an environment that has been carefully prepared and is constantly nurtured.

Occasionally a seed may fall on uncultivated soil and spring up as a sapling, but such trees rarely last long enough to bear fruit. Likewise, lasting relationships don't just happen. They must be fostered by love and attention, cultivated by care and concern, and fed by kindness and generosity. It doesn't happen in one day of intensive attention; it happens over time, in countless small moments, as gradually as a tree grows.

Meaningful relationships are worth more than hundred-dollar trees, and they deserve all the time, effort, and energy they need to become strong and beautiful. Then, once the roots are well established, such relationships can continue to grow--even under difficult circumstances. Trust and understanding will nurture the relationship, and eventually, the flowers of love will blossom and bear sweet fruit.