Knees

All the best work in the garden is done on your knees.  Not the biggest work, mind you.  Not the work that’s most noticed.  I said the best.

When you are on your knees, you see the details.  The overview is important, but from time to time you need to examine things more closely.  Is that grass, or a weed?  Is that flower bed mulched properly?  Is that a bit of thatch, or is the grass actually dying?

When you are on your knees, you are better positioned to do the fine work.  And I mean “fine” in the “fine print” sense.  Anyone can push a mower.  It takes care to get stray runners of grass out of flower beds or examine and improve the soil.

When you are on your knees, you strain less.  I know it seems easier and quicker to just bend your back, take your best shot, and then move on.  But if you pause for a moment in your busy day and just resign yourself to the issue at hand fully, you will find the work to be much less painful in the long run.

When you are on your knees, you stay on task longer.  If you are invested in the work enough to get down on your knees, it will be easier to avoid distractions.

When you are on your knees, you connect with the work emotionally.  A greater investment of energy and focus makes it almost impossible to distance yourself from the outcome.  You hold yourself accountable.  You think about the work even when absent from it.

If you think my main point here is to improve your gardening skills, read 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and then take it from the top again.