In Progress.…

On one of my reg­u­lar walk­ing paths, the grassy boule­vard has been replaced by plant­ed prairie. I am all for these prairie restora­tion efforts. I know that prairie patch­es will do more than sim­ply make for a more inter­est­ing walk for me—they bring in pol­li­na­tors and crit­ters, fil­ter water and pre­vent ero­sion etc. Prairie places will do things I don’t even know about or under­stand. All good.

But the in progress phase is less than per­fect­ly lovely.….

I swear, I’m pulling “plants” (I’m avoid­ing the more pejo­ra­tive term) that look just like those out of my garden.

I love the sign: Prairie In Progress. It reminds me of what writ­ers some­times call the book they’re cur­rent­ly work­ing on: Work In Progress (WIP). My cur­rent WIP looks a lot like this PIP right now. Hard to imag­ine it’s going to turn into some­thing beau­ti­ful and impor­tant. Right now it feels like it’s filled with weeds. It’s  uneven and bumpy. There are bare spots and rocky places. Can­dy wrap­pers and cig­a­rette butts lit­ter the edges in places.

But it’s in progress. It will fill in. Scrap­py look­ing places will bloom some day. I’ll clean up the lit­ter, even out the bumps, and replant as need­ed. I will water it and shine some love on it. It will be tend­ed as it finds its way, becom­ing what it’s meant to be. I have to believe this, or I can’t work on it.

I’m grate­ful for this Prairie Project near my house. When I walk by it I remind myself: It’s not always beau­ti­ful in the begin­ning. It takes a lit­tle faith to let it grow and a lit­tle imag­i­na­tion to see the spots in which things begin to look more hope­ful. It always, in fact, takes longer than you think it will (or should.) 

So be it. Most every­thing and every­one is a Work In Progress. I’m grate­ful for this live and grow­ing reminder twen­ty min­utes from my house.