I love metaphors. We, you and I Gentle Reader, live metaphors; we are living metaphors. One of my favorite metaphors is a garden metaphor. ‘I am a garden.’ Each relationship I have is a garden. Each organization is a garden.
The garden metaphor is also a paradox. The Paradox: I am both the garden and the gardener.
When it comes to relationships (I am thinking of the relationship between two people). The Paradox: We (the relationship) are the garden and we are also the gardeners.
When it comes to an organization. The Paradox: The organization is a garden to be nurtured and sustained and the organization is the gardener.
As gardeners we have been entrusted with the care of our gardens. We are the gardens’ stewards.
Gentle Reader, you might remember that I also love poetry. More than thirty years ago I read a poem by Spain’s greatest poet, Antonio Machado. I offer his poem to you this morning. The poem is about a garden and a gardener. I also offer you two photos to contemplate as you read and ‘hold’ Machado’s poem.
First: The Two Photos
Now: Antonio Machado’s Poem
The wind, one brilliant day, called
to my soul with an odor of jasmine.
“In return for the odor of my jasmine,
I’d like all the odor of your roses.”
“I have no roses; all the flowers
in my garden are dead.”
“Well then, I’ll take the withered petals
and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain.”
The wind left. And I wept. And I said to soul:
“What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?”
Searcher-Seeker 