The hanging gardens of Babylon didn’t happen by accident!

I love my garden. It’s a “middle age in the suburbs” kinda thing. I am blessed by having space and plenty of bush around me. However, I have been trying to tame parts of it for years – trying to shape it into something that works for my family and I. It’s a labour of love – literally.

There is one particular area that, alas has proved beyond me. It’s heavily overgrown and hard to really know what to do with. I have tried to make the best of a bad situation. Chopped bits off, restructured other parts, squeezed bits together to try and make them work. 

I’ve even hired in specialists. They have assured me, with lots of air sucked through teeth, that it’s a big, complex (read expensive) job – not to be taken on lightly. So far I have passed.

It’s bearable. But if I’m honest it’s not really ideal and I know it could be so much better. Maybe I’ll get to it one day – I do have a day job after all...

Now, we had a storm come through recently. It really blew. Knocked us all about and brought a big tree down – right through the middle of the offending area! I’ll admit that it was a shock. It was never pretty but I had worked hard at it and it had a certain charm…

Thing is, it didn't really leave me much of a choice. I had to tackle it – no more putting it off and going back to the way it was simply wasn't an option.

So I got the family involved. We sat down and planned what we wanted it to look like, how we wanted it to function – how we wanted to use it. 

We built a plan, had a structure in mind, identified the way we would approach the redesign, who would take on which jobs (teenagers are expensive to feed – this would be their time to shine), who would make the decisions as we went along, how we would work as a team and what good teamwork would look like. We would dictate the shape of this part of the garden. The garden would no longer dictate to us.

Six months on and it’s great. It’s growing well, bearing fruit and flowers. It’s no longer the problem area of the garden. It’s actually now one of the best features. Makes us want to tackle the other areas together. It makes us proud – we did this – so what’s next….? 

The fallen tree is Covid. The garden is your organisation.

The hanging gardens of Babylon didn’t happen by accident!