The story behind Creekside Garden
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet.” – Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet
Creekside Garden was born the same year as my oldest son, the changes in my life were so significant it gave me courage to start the blog I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. I couldn’t have been older than 6 or 7 watching my mom write her blog when I told myself that I would have my own someday. I remember the feeling was like a magnet, a string tugging on my heart; writing was something I was born to do. In 2023, as I passed through the turbulent waters of postpartum, writing called to my soul again.
Naming this blog was a big deal for me, I couldn’t bring myself to write until I knew what banner flew over the words on the page. Names are significant and I always feel the weight of choosing names for our children, with my blog it felt like I was naming another child. I wanted something that perfectly represented who I was in 2023 and who I would be twenty years from now. Finding something perfect seemed impossible. I finally decided to keep it simple and applicable to my life at that moment. I lived by a creek and had planted my first garden, that is how “Creekside Garden” was born. At the time I felt like it wasn’t good enough, but (unlike a baby) I could easily change it if I found something better.
Creekside Garden has matured alongside me over the past three years and the name feels more appropriate now than it did in the early days. Like a newborn growing into their squished faces and wispy hair, a child usually grows up to represent their name in ways the parents couldn’t have imagined. My second born fits his name like a well worn shoe, “Cason” means “young bull” and fits my son to a T. I say that as he plows a plastic tractor over this keyboard with the enthusiasm as a young bull in a china shop. I pray God uses his strength and boldness for His glory.
I have since moved since starting the blog and no longer have a garden, but now I cultivate words and harvest beauty in sentences. I will always be a writer even if I am not always able to keep a garden. Here on the blog and substack I have a garden to tend, planting ideas like seeds, weeding through my mistakes as I grow as a writer, looking forward to a harvest of following my passion.
The creek we lived on at the time had lush and green banks, it wound through wild pastures of trees and fields. Satisfying the thirst of deer, bears, and cattle. Water harmonized with the birds and the wind, a song drifting through our windows. One reason I didn’t want to keep “creekside” is because I knew that I may not always live by a creek. Now I see that creekside also represents God’s word, the true living water. I have walked through some dark nights, but when I have turned to my Bible it has watered my soul. God’s word has a depth of wisdom, a height of hope, and a steadfastness of peace that I am ready to drink deeply of. One of my favorite psalms fits my desire for Creekside Garden and my own life so well. Psalm 1 speaks of the wise man planted by streams of water – the living water of God’s word.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3, ESV
Creekside Garden is where words are grown out of the soil of my simple heart, watered by the everlasting water of God’s word. I want to glorify God with my life and especially my words. To celebrate His creation and enjoy the beauty to behold in this precious and short life we have here on this earth. Life is not easy, but even in the darkest night there are shining stars pointing our hearts in worship of our Creator’s majesty. In the most terrible storm, there is beauty in the chaos. I won’t pretend to have it together (I don’t). I like to write with bare honesty and always looking for the fingerprints of God in my life.
Welcome to Creekside Garden. I hope you stop to smell the flowers, disregard the weeds (I have a lot of learning to do), and walk away with new eyes to see God’s creation.
Sincerely,
Myah Joy
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