Given my affinity for gardening, I jumped at the chance to reserve a copy of this book from Penguin Publishers. I was not disappointed.
The author, Carol Wall, crafts not only a story about learning to love the art of gardening but how our human experience is interwoven with lessons from nature, if we only stop to take notice.
With chapter titles like "A Rose Between Two Thorns", "Anticipated Blooms" and "Frail Magnolia", the journey to becoming a "green thumb" mirrors well the path to acceptance of her past, her pain and the uncertainty of a life that is as delicate as the flowers for which her passion has not yet bloomed.
Amidst the lessons of life and gardening, sits a blossoming friendship with her tutor, Mr. Owita, a humble, quite, yet deeply thoughtful man. Differences in culture and background melt away in the shadow of a camaraderie that sinks deeply into the soil of time and is tilled with patience and love.
Jesus taught many of his parables and lessons using examples from the creativity of nature that is all around us. In our hectic lives, we would do well not only to "stop and smell the roses", but plant, nurture, train and prune them also. As Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening reminds us, all life is fragile and the delicate balance of our health, our time we've been given and the relationships with which we have been blessed should be tended with as much care and precision as any beautiful azalea would require.
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