Lent in the Garden

I think the idea last year to focus Lent around an aspect/title of Jesus that He's wanting me to learn about Him was fruitful last year, so I'm doing it again this year. Last year I based everything around Christ the Physician, this year is Christ the Gardener. Now I will be the first to admit I have not delved nearly as deeply as I ought, mostly due to an energy-draining work project that is at the beginning of April, but here's what's come up for me so far:
* When I presented the idea to my spiritual mentor, one aspect she mentioned was that of Christ's cross tilling the soil of my heart. That has struck with me, especially on days where I'm so consumed with my project that it leaves me feeling desolate. It reminds me that Christ is preparing the fields through me and my sacrifices.
*I *am* trying to actively spend more time gardening (because truly I'm not good at spending time outside, so it's both a penance for me and brings the gardening images to life). The thoughts I've noticed when I go to garden is that at first I get so annoyed that I don't see any progress so I want to give up within 5 minutes of starting, but then when I get into it it's hard to find a good stopping point because I keep seeing improvements I could make. I realized that in some ways I approach my relationships and ministries with the same attitudes... take the youth ministry aspect for example, I get so frustrated that I can't see any good coming from my efforts, so there is the real inclination to throw up my hands and walk away, but then when you start to see progress in the kids in their conversations and attitudes, you get giddy and can't help but think how you can keep the momentum rolling. Also, I say that I'm gardening, but mostly up to now I've just been having to haul twigs around our yard and prune a bunch of vines and as I was in the middle of untangling and hacking a bunch of vines, I couldn't help but think of how much I suddenly did not like the parable of the vine and the branches anymore 😋 seriously, vines are worse to remove and dig up and kill than weeds.
*Another image that has kind of come up for me are the types of flowers in my life. This came up because in our small young adult women's book club at our parish, we usually share a "rose and thorn", or high and low, from the time period since we last met. But what else besides roses are in my garden? Of course you could associate weeds with sins...I think of simple pleasures as daisies, sacrifices and prayers as lilies, little sadnesses as blue hydrangeas...
*Of course the one time we see Christ the Gardener in Scripture is His encounter with Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection...where do I not recognize Christ in my life? Where do I not recognize His glory?