Volunteers

"Volunteer Petunias" is what she called this mass of purple, pink and white flowers. My friend's mother says she can't grow them in her garden, but here, in the rocky soil of the driveway, these petunias thrive.

I've never heard the 'volunteer' term in reference to flowers before, but it fits. They have come up on their own, exactly where they want to be. Not in the garden, where life should be much easier, but here in the gravel of the driveway. They add an unusual beauty in an unexpected place.

I was so intrigued by this that I quickly shot a few pictures in the fading light of the evening. Surely there is a life lesson here.

I work with volunteers a lot and am incredibly grateful for them - most of the time. Every once in a while a volunteer shows up with a mind of their own. They want to do things their own way, which isn't always convenient. Their ideas may not mesh with the rest of the garden plans. They may even cause inconvenience, and make it difficult to use the driveway as a driveway is meant to be used.

Do I see the beauty of the volunteer even in this situation? Would I allow a garden of volunteers to thrive even if it inconvenienced me to this extent? Would I insist on gently pulling each of these petunias and moving it back to the garden where it 'belongs'? And if I chose to do that, so that the driveway could also serve its purpose, would that be wrong?

As you can see, I'm not even sure what the lesson is in all of this. But that mass of flowers growing where they didn't belong was a bright spot in my day. As were all the other more conforming flowers in that garden!!