I’ve mentioned before that summer is my least favorite season. I’m sure it sounds ridiculous coming from a California girl, but it’s the truth. August is especially bad, as all the heat that we didn’t get from the June gloom seems to wait to come out to play till August. It can’t be bothered to politely spread itself out over July, no… So August sees spikes in my A/C use, subsequent spikes in my electricity bill and spikes in my consumption of refreshing cocktails.

I’ve been meaning to spread fertilizer on the lawn for about a month or so now, a request from my dad to help with the summer heat and bolster the root system up a bit. Of course it got put off for various reasons — until this evening, that is. I felt guilty about having neglected the friendly green blades for so long, so I dug out the Scotts spreader, tore open the bag of Turf Builder with SummerGuard pellets and went to work. I knew I was supposed to adjust the setting on the spreader before starting, but I wasn’t able to figure it out…until I got done with the front yard and had moved on to the back, at which point I saw that the setting I should’ve been on was one which spread the pellets more densely. Awesome.

I went back out to the front yard and reapplied the stuff, sweating profusely in the process. It was 7:30 in the evening, and 92 degrees. Yep, I definitely should’ve done the fertilizing a month ago when the request first came my way.

After the front, I finished the back yard, then cruised out the back gate and onto the back parkway to give it some love, as well. Here’s hoping the grass doesn’t get all crispy and crunchy from my uber-application this time the way it did in the spring. That time, my fertilizer-con-weed-killer burned the lawn — although it burned it in nice, even stripes since I rule at using the Scotts spreader. Oops.

This particular lawn feed is one which needs to be watered into the grass after application, so that’s where I’m currently at in the process. And in a way, it’s not unlike us when we have the chance to learn something.

We’re given the tools, and we may need to marinate on things for a while before the material really takes hold. It’s not enough to just sit in a class or read a book and start doing. Instead, we need to grasp the real-world application and let it sink in before action can occur.

And when action occurs, ideally the outcome is one where we’re stronger not only from the initial learning, but also from our experiences after putting it into motion. Tonight I am thankful for the reminder that growth doesn’t happen simply because we want it to — it happens because we take the necessary steps to have something come to fruition. We can delay and fall a little behind until we’re guilted into action one day, but once we finally do it, we owe it to ourselves to let it sink in — and we also owe it to ourselves to own its benefits. Here’s to remembering that anytime is a good time to grow, and here’s to giving our own lives some feed in the coming months.