Season 4 EP. 100 The Garden and Harvest I Didn’t See Coming (C2TC8 H.E.R. Circle)

Season 4 EP. 100 The Garden and Harvest I Didn’t See Coming (C2TC8 H.E.R. Circle)

What if the things that changed your life the most were the things you never planned for?

As we reach Episode 100 of Season 4: Walking the Garden, Madison Samone Chase invites listeners into a conversation about perspective, gratitude, resilience, and the unexpected ways life often unfolds.

In a world that encourages us to measure success by plans achieved, goals accomplished, and milestones reached, this episode challenges us to consider whether some of life’s greatest gifts arrive in forms we never would have chosen, predicted, or recognized at the time.

Through the lens of faith, personal growth, wellness, and intentional living, Madison explores what becomes possible when we pause long enough to appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

This episode is for high-performing women, mothers, aunties, godmothers, single moms, dog moms, entrepreneurs, caregivers, and anyone navigating a season of growth, transition, healing, stewardship, and becoming.

As always, C2TC8 offers a PPT Audit, a SAC Challenge (Spontaneous Authentically Assertive Communication), 3 Keys 🔑, and 1 Reflection Question ❓ to help you pause for a cause, reflect, and carry the lesson with you long after listening.

30 New Episodes launch the 15th of every month for 15 days, with 2 episodes daily at 8AM and 8PM CST.

🤍 Join and support C2TC8 H.E.R. Circle

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If this episode pricked your heart or lit a spark, please follow, share it with someone you care about, leave a comment so this becomes a dialogue and not a monologue, and leave a five-star review.

And remember, there’s always grace in this space.

Blessings to You & Yours! Until tomorrow.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Season four. This episode is entitled The Garden and Harvest I Didn't See Coming. Have you ever looked back over your life on a season of your life and realized almost nothing turned out the way you planned? The timeline was different. The people in your life were different. The opportunities were different. The challenges were definitely different. Even you were different. The truth is, if someone had shown me this garden when I first planted the seeds, I'm not sure I would have recognized it. Because sometimes life doesn't give us the harvest we expected. Sometimes it gives us the harvest we need. And sometimes the greatest surprise isn't what grew, it's who grew. As we continue walking the garden, today we're reflecting on the garden and harvest we didn't see coming. Hey y'all, I am Madison Simone Chase, also known as Miss Chase. I was raised in church. My great-grandmother played the piano and I sang in the choir. Don't ask me to sing today, but yes, I sang in the choir. And my faith journey has always been at the center of who I am. And I am incredibly thankful to have been raised by a hardworking, smart, brilliant, sacrificial, high-performing, single mother who remains my biggest fan and my forever bestie, my best friend for real. Honoring God through service, making my mama proud, and using the gifts he gave me has always been deeply important to me. Over the past several seasons of Cut to the Chase at Aid, we've talked about awareness, detox, discernment, no more nice, boundaries, rebuilding, and becoming. But as I entered this next season, season four, I found myself thinking less about what needed to be removed and more about what needed to be cultivated. Because before a gardener plants for the next seed, the gardener walks the garden. The gardener takes inventory, it notices what flourished, it notices what struggled, it notices what produced fruit. It also notices what never took root. It notices what needs pruning, and it notices what has completed its purpose. And that's what season four is all about walking the garden and taking an honest look at the people, places, and things in our lives, not with judgment, not with shame, but with wisdom, because every person, every place, and everything produces fruit. And before we ask ourselves and ask for a bigger harvest, we may need to take a closer look at the roots. So whether you are a high-performing mother, single mother, father, single father, caretaker, entrepreneur, aspiring entrepreneur, working a nine-to-five, juggling two or three jobs, quietly rebuilding or simply trying to grow through life one season at a time. Your dream, your goals, this space and this circle is for you. So if you're listening andor watching, pull up a real chair or a digital chair and grab yourself a cup of hot or cold herbal tea. And welcome to my cozy home of Cut to the Chase at 8, now C2TC8, her circle, which stands for high performing, empowered women and some men who are ready to thrive. Now let's take one breath together to open this episode. We're going to inhale for three, two, one, exhale for five, four, three, two, one. When most people plant a garden, they begin with a picture in their mind, a vision, an expectation, an outcome. The gardener imagines what the garden will look like when everything grows. And life is no different than that garden. We create plans, we set goals, we imagine timelines, we picture relationships, careers, business, family, friends, best friends, dreams. And we imagine the people who will be in it, and then life happens. Some things arrive earlier than we expected, and some things arrive much later than we anticipated, and some never arrive at all. And some blessings show up wearing disguises. And sometimes those blessings are not necessarily blessings, they could also be things that are not blessings. And the interesting thing about growth is that we often don't recognize it while it's happening. What we tend to notice is we notice the struggle, we notice the waiting. And we rarely, if ever, notice our capacity is expanding. We rarely notice our faith increasing and deepening. We rarely notice our wisdom growing. Yet when we look back, we realize something beautiful happened. The garden grew, it flourished. Maybe not exactly as we planned, but it grew. And so did we. Sometimes a harvest isn't a promotion, sometimes it is rejection, sometimes it is termination, sometimes it ends. But sometimes we don't notice it's peace. Sometimes it isn't recognition, sometimes it's resilience, sometimes it isn't arrival, but sometimes it's wisdom. And sometimes the greatest harvest is becoming someone capable of carrying what you've been praying for. Which brings me to the PPT audit: people, places, and things. People, who in your life has shaped the garden or helped shape the garden I'm standing in today? And if you think about who those people are, they could be family, they could be friends, they could be neighbors. Who has consistently poured into you? Who planted seeds of encouragement? Who planted seeds of wisdom? Who planted seeds of accountability? And who planted seeds of faith? And sometimes those are not always the people that show up for you often. Sometimes they are people that you meet, strangers that you meet, who become a part of your life, who taught me lessons I didn't fully appreciate at the time. Places. What environments helped me grow? What seasons stretched me in ways I never imagined? And what places taught me something I could not have learned any other way? I remember when I lived in California and I'd lived there for a while. And I remember when I first moved there, I met someone on Sunset Boulevard, and I was so excited to be in LA because it had been a dream that I always wanted to move to Los Angeles. And I met this guy, and we're still friends to this day. And we met and he said, Wow, you're so excited to be in California. And I was. I was super excited to live in California. And he said, I'm gonna stay in touch with you and see if you still have the same kind of excitement in six and seven and eight and ten years. And I said, Okay. But it's funny because it took my mom coming to visit Los Angeles where I didn't really realize I hadn't taken the time to appreciate the natural beauty of Los Angeles, California. I hadn't taken the time to really appreciate how beautiful it was.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

And I saw that through the lens of my mom.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I saw it through her lens and watching her through her eyes and appreciating the mountains that had been behind Ventura Boulevard the whole time. I didn't notice it at first, but I noticed it through my mother's eyes. And what a blessing it was. And even though there were challenges that really became unexpected teachers for me. So when I look at things, the habits that helped create this harvest, the challenge that became unexpected teachers of patience and kindness and the No More Night series, and what it taught me about myself, and what it taught me about grace, and sometimes how I leave one act of service for another act of service, and then the things what lessons do I want to carry into the next season? And that's what the people places and things, the places. So California taught me something, and I couldn't have learned it any other way. And then when I'm looking at things, the habits that I learned as a classically trained Juilliard ballerina that help create this new harvest that I'm harvesting and the challenges that became unexpected teachers, the challenges in dealing with frenemies and dealing with church hurt. And then what lessons from those challenges do I want to carry into this next season? Which brings me to the SAC challenge. This week's spontaneous, authentically assertive communication challenge is simple. I want us to take a moment to acknowledge our growth. Not future growth, but your current present-day growth. And practice one act of spontaneous, authentically assertive communication. Maybe it's saying to ourselves, I am proud of how far I've come. I'm proud that I didn't allow phonemes, uh, gossip about me to become who I am in this new season. And I don't give myself enough credit. And give yourself credit, encourage yourself, pat yourself on the back. And you could also say that season was hard, and I made it through, and I'm still making it through, and I'm grateful for what I've learned. Or maybe it's telling someone thank you, but no thank you. And your support mattered. And you helped me more than you know, in giving someone their flowers, and the goal is to honestly acknowledge what that season and this season produced andor producing. Because gratitude is also a form of stewardship, which brings me to the three keys. Key number one growth is often easier to recognize in hindsight than in real time. Don't underestimate what is happening beneath the surface. And sometimes don't underestimate what's happening above ground. Which brings me to key number two. The harvest we need and the harvest we expect are not always the same. Trust that growth can take many, many forms. And you could learn life lessons through the least expected person, the least expected environment, and the least expected thing. I think the key is just to open our eyes to see. Like I've learned so many lessons from rescuing the rescue dog that I now have, the patience that it took. I learned a lesson through these two new dogs that I recently tried to rescue. And so the question is, sometimes our greatest key number three, sometimes the greatest transformation isn't in our present-day circumstances. Sometimes it is in us.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

And the gardener grows too. It truly does.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Let me say that again. What unexpected gift, lesson, strength, or blessing emerge from a season I once struggled to understand? Today we reflected on the garden and the harvest we didn't see coming, the plans that changed, the doors that closed, the opportunities that appeared, the lessons we didn't expect, and the growth we almost missed, because life rarely unfolds exactly as we imagine. Yet when we paused long enough to look back, we often discovered that what felt like detours were actually directions. What felt like delays were developing us, and what felt like uncertainty was preparing us. The garden may not look exactly like the one we imagined, but let's take a moment to appreciate what's growing because growth has been happening all along. Before we go, let's revisit today's three keys. Growth is often easier to recognize in hindsight than in real time. Key number two, the harvest we need and the harvest we expect are not always the same. Key number three, sometimes the greatest transformation isn't in our circumstances. It is in you, it is in me, it is in us. In our reflection question, what unexpected gift, lesson, strength, or blessing emerge from a season that we struggle to understand? And I want you to take that question with you today, this week, and sit with it, pray about it, journal about it, and see what comes up for you, what rises to the surface. And remember, some of the most meaningful harvests are the ones we never planned for. So continue giving yourself grace in this space. Let's take one closing breath together with me. We're gonna inhale for three, two, one, and exhale for five, four, three, two, one. If this episode pricked your heart or lit a spark, please subscribe and share this episode with someone you care about, and please leave a comment so that this becomes a dialogue and not a monologue. And leave a five-star rating so that this space can continue to grow and serve others long after this episode ends. Until next time, I am Mattison Simone Chase, also known as Miss Chase, and this has been another episode of Cut to the Chase at 8, now C2TC8, her circle, her standing for high-performing, empowered women and some men who are ready to thrive. A 15 minute micro learning moment for macro living transformations, blessings to you and yours. And remember, sometimes the greatest surprise isn't the harvest, it's realizing that the gardener grew too.