"....dunged about the roots thereof....."

Head back to the early 1990's.  At that point we had tucked away 16 moves and nearly 25 years of marriage.  Life was filled with a new baby, 2 young children, 4 teenagers, my husband working 12+ hours a day, and I was juggling a part-time job, church responsibilities and family.  Amidst all the "busyness" I came across a scripture story where Jesus talked of the Gardener "pruning the olive branches", "dunged about the roots thereof", "tranplanting" the good wood, and basically tending to the growth of the garden.    I was feeling like the plant who had been Pruned, Transplanted, and Dunged About!

In half-jesting mood I mentioned to our Bishop that I was being "dunged about".  His reply was simple - "Oh, you are being fertilized."
Is that what that was?  Overwork, stress, little sleep, teenage challenges, more bills than money = being fertilized?  I figured I could do without more growth.

Some families stay and raise their families in the same town they grew up in, but we are consistently "tranplanted in the garden".  Life keeps us in transition.  I DO NOT LIKE MOVING!  As much as I have hated the process, it is easy to see (looking back) that each move took us to a better place both for our family and for our spirits.

Our most recent move took us to western Idaho where the people were friendly, the weather let me grow three kinds of melons and actually harvest red tomatoes before the frost!  More crucial is that and our youngest daughter thrived with new friends.  Here I was ready for a life of "Happily Ever After" - but somebody added a new chapter!  Now in the last weeks of 2009  it is happening again - We are being tranplanted!!!!!

Move #18 is taking us to a desert filled with sage brush, well-fed rats that waddle across the highway, and life in a three bedroom apartment.  I liked the "garden" we were in - what could possibly be better about moving again?  I liked the sunshine in this part of the world and my hubby was loving his work.  Why another "transplant"?  Why yet another "pruning" session?  Why more "dunging about the roots thereof"?  Couldn't we just stay put? 

So now I get to clean, dejunk, clean, pack, clean and dejunk some more.  Our current life is being left behind for the great unknown.  Actually the new area looks more like "the lone and dreary world"!

Only Faith that things will be better once again is keeping me smiling and trudging ahead -this transition would seem like a picnic to what the early pioneers had to do.  In honor of Adam and Eve and the early Saints we will pack up the "handcart", leave behind our excess, walk away from the Garden and start a new life amongst the sage brush.  
Guess this puts us in good company.    : )