Writing songs and digging out weeds

We're already nearing the end of week one!  I have been de-compressing, and finding new rhythm and patterns this week that I hope to refine so that I can make the best use of this time.  The old Jim Croce song says it best:

"There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do when you find them . . . ."

Two things I am doing that I have not done with any diligence or consistency for years:  gardening and songwriting.

The first of these, gardening, is an activity I want to continue to grow in skill and practice in over the years.  I love the idea of growing vegetables and fruit, and of maintaining and stewarding a piece of land.  In our home, Carina is the Gardener and I am her humble servant.  I do the heavy digging and  pulling.  This week I had time to just be out in our yard and to observe how pernicious the weeds are this year, and also to poke around and see what's starting to grow again from last year.  There is something quite satisfying about the care-taking of a garden that is deeply wired into us as created beings.  Weeding is never done, but bit by bit, it does make a difference.  It's nice to have time to slow down and enjoy it this spring!

The second neglected activity is songwriting.  Over the years I have been able to crank out some occassional worship songs, but that well has been very dry for a while, mainly because I do not have the discipline or the will to invest regularly in it.  Songwriting is a lot like weeding - the job is rarely done, it takes time and plodding, and the concrete rewards for the work are often meager.

This week I went out and bought a notebook, and have sat down each day at the piano and with my guitar, to just start scribbling out lines and lyrics, and to sing them out into the room.  My sketchbook now has about 5 songs in various states of progress, who knows?  Maybe one day one of them will be performed somewhere for a real audience.  But just to be investing in that craft again, to have the time to simmer and ponder and stew, is a joy I am recapturing again.  Songwriting, like weeding, is never done, but I believe it does make a difference.

So with thanksgiving, I take up my weeder and my guitar and tend to these gifts.