INCH WORM, INCH WORM

INCH WORM,

EARTH WORM

Springtime gardening in Oregon is not always

glorious bliss,

nor can one rely on digging in soft soil
or sunshine warming

 old gnarly, arthritic fingers

grasped around a hoe.

We can experience all four seasons in one day.

But the daffodils aren't aware of the chilling

snowdrifts they're pushing away

on their quest to find the sun.

I disturbed one earthworm in my digging last week ....

 one of the "spring" days I was 

"digging in the dirt," after the snowdrifts melted,

(digging in the dirt is one of my favorite descriptive expressions when

my kids call and ask what I'm doing),

When I found the little fella he was.....

coolish, but alive.

I picked him up  -  yes, in my bare hands! - and transferred him to my compost bin

that's been "cooking" all winter ...

I'm expecting great compost!

As we headed toward the compost bin

the silly childhood song came to my mind and mouth as I sang,

"Inch worm, inch worm

measuring the (marigolds) daffodils,

you and your arithmetic will probably go far.

Inch worm, inch worm measuring the (marigolds) daffodils,

seems to me you'd stop and see

how beautiful they are."

Thanks to fotosearch for this amazing image!

How industrious inchworms are ...
measuring and eating,
".... measuring the marigolds...."

One worm-gardener lives below the soil, turning the
dirt into "black gold" compos,.
while the inchworm lives above ground
 eating his way through our gardens........
hopefully not consuming too many marigolds in his quest for food.

Rejoicing that spring is here ...
and in due time ...
in a week or so,
my daffodils will be golden cups of
sunshine brightening  up my gardens.....
even if a late-in-the-season
wayward snow cloud dumps on them!

This barren garden-fence in my backyard
will soon be a sturdy backdrop
for the daffodils planted in front of it.

 I took a bit of poetic license by changing the

little song a bit....

the worm I found wasn't actually an "inchworm" and I

took him out of the ground instead of off a marigold or daffodil.
But how wonderful .....
all of God's creation has its own unique job to do .....
inchworms "measure the marigolds",
earthworms wiggle and waggle through our soil, breaking up the clods and hard-packed soil, turning 
 the darkest dirt
 in their path into black gold.
And I'm privileged to have my own continuing
life cycle ....
as I (like the inchworm) count my blessings
inch by inch
yard by yard
mile by mile!
And like the earthworm
I will wiggle and waggle my way through life,
breaking up the hard-packed soil
that blocks my way into being
the kind of "earth worm" God can use in this garden called
"Life."