My best is good enough

Strawberries growing in front of my gate.

As I walked into my garden to harvest some strawberries my chest felt a little tight. Immediately my mind went to all the things that I didn’t do right this year. I didn’t relocate the strawberry runners at the beginning of spring, I didn’t fertilize before they flowered, I didn’t move all the plants from in front of my gate and now they’re starting to turn brown. I didn’t weed and put down straw. 

But then, as I pulled back the big leaves, underneath revealed a beautiful harvest of sweet, small juicy strawberries. 

Hidden harvest!

No, they’re not big like the ones you get from the grocery store, and yes I need more to fill me up, but if I focus on all the things that I didn’t do, and all the ways that it won’t look perfect, I miss the blessings.

• The blessing of being able to fill up my own strawberry container.

• The blessing of being able to have sweet snacks every day in the garden after weeding and planting.

• The blessing of being able to share with friends and have a delicious homemade breakfast with the kids. 

Sweet celebration!

I have to constantly remind myself that I don't have to do everything perfect for it to be good. And, even when everything doesn’t go according to plan, I can still reap the blessings of a beautiful harvest. God continues to show me through the garden how to extend grace to myself.

I almost let my blessing go to waste simply because I was focused on the fact that I didn't get to do everything right.

This is one of the greatest lessons that I have learned in the garden. To live with grace is to understand that God can still bless me and still loves me even when I don’t get it exactly right! 

Sometimes you have to fight through the negative self talk. Healing is rewiring your brain and reframing the negative self talk that unconsciously sabotages your growth.

Remember that God gives us grace and blesses us even in our imperfections and missteps. 

Learning to live with grace allows us to experience abundance while we continue to try and live the life God has called us to.

Wishing you a beautiful harvest, full of sweet surprises!