Is it Time to Make a Change (or Not)?

Three “Taylor” junipers seem to be doing well along the back fence.

We’ve lived in our home for almost 11 years, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally got around to planting some evergreens along the back fence. I don’t know why it took me so long—indecision, probably, caused by too many choices combined with a lack of confidence about making the right ones.

The space is small, so I needed shrubs that are narrow but tall. I didn’t want to have to wait for 20 years for privacy, so they needed to be relatively fast-growing. The planting area is elevated and next to a few moisture-hogging hedge trees, so drought-tolerance also was important.

Native junipers seemed to be my best bet, so I finally decided what I wanted and made some purchases at my favorite local garden center.

Three of my new additions—a tall, thin variety called “Taylor”—are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. The others, not so much.

I had high hopes for one of them, in particular, because this same variety planted along a different fence have surpassed all my expectations. The new shrub—a “Hetzii” juniper—is still scrawny, same as the “Moonglow” on the other side of the trellis.

I fertilized last year and plan to do the same this year. Hopefully, that will help.

Here’s what I know for sure. The decisions we make today affect what things will look like in five or 10 years. This applies to life in general, as well as to gardening.

I did the best I knew with the shrubs along my back fence. If I could rewind and do it over, I’m not sure what I would have done differently.

We could dig them all up and plant something different. But then we’d have to wait even longer for results, and we might not even be living here by then. We should have done it sooner, if we were going to do it at all.

That’s the “good side” of the scraggly “Moonglow” juniper on the right. It’s been there the longest, and looks the worst.

There are two morals to this story—two opposite ways to look at it.

First, if you need to make an adjustment in your life, don’t wait. Get counseling, modify your eating habits, buy a more comfortable pair of shoes, paint that spot on the wall that you walk past 15 times a day.

Don’t wait; just do it.

On the flip side, other things are worth waiting for. Some of these—like trusting God to work in someone else’s life, perhaps—are completely out of our hands. Others require us to be diligent, to hone our skills, to do the next right thing.

The problem is, we don’t always know which is which. To figure this out, we might need to find a good parenting mentor, get some advice from the cooperative extension service, pray for discernment.

There’s good news, though. As He demonstrated so powerfully on Easter morning, God is in the business of redemption. When we mess things up completely, or when we somehow find it within ourselves to wait on His perfect timing.

As long as we’re still here, there’s always hope.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.