Today I found myself outside in a light rain, trimming what I affectionately call the green monster bush in my yard.
I’m not even sure what kind of bush it is. I just know it is VERY happy here.
For a while, I thought I’d simply let it grow. It was healthy. It was thriving. Why not?
But lately, all that enthusiastic growing was beginning to take over the almond bush and banana trees beside it.
So out I went with my clippers.
As I started trimming, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.
The almond bush wasn’t exactly sitting there helplessly being overtaken. Its branches had worked their way into the green monster, too.
They were intertwined.
Each growing in its own direction. Each holding its own. Each taking up space while somehow sharing that space with the other.
I found myself talking to them.
I hope you two are treating each other respectfully and sharing the space nicely. 😊
And as I kept trimming, I thought about how much these two plants reminded me of relationships.
We all need room to grow.
We need space to become more of who we are, explore new things, change our minds and stretch in new directions.
The people we love need that same freedom.
But relationships also mean our lives become intertwined. Our branches cross. Our decisions affect one another. Sometimes we lean on each other. Sometimes we grow alongside each other. And sometimes one of us starts taking up a little too much space and needs to be lovingly trimmed back.
Not because growing is bad.
But because one person’s growth shouldn’t require someone else to become smaller.
Maybe healthy relationships look a little like those two bushes in my yard.
Grow.
Stretch.
Become more of yourself.
Let the person beside you do the same.
And when your branches cross, share the space with kindness and respect.
Standing there in the rain, looking at my two very determined bushes, I realized I didn't want to separate them.
I just wanted to make sure there was room for both of them.
Maybe that's something worth asking ourselves about the relationships in our own lives:
Is there room here for both of us to grow?
Room for me to be me.
Room for you to be you.
And enough space in between for our branches to intertwine.