God Tends His Garden

 

        Spring is amazing and I love working in the garden.  There is something immensely gratifying when we place tiny little seeds in the ground and then see them sprout, grow, and eventually produce a crop.  There’s joy in harvesting, preparing and serving something we’ve planted, weeded, nurtured with compost, and watered when the rains didn’t come.

As they’ve grown, the fragrance of the delicately flowering herbs, greens of leafy vegetables, colors of deep purple beets, yellow squash, red strawberries, and on and on, imbeds in me the pure joy of God’s creation, and a ‘grounding’ in meeting with nature on it’s terms!

Even though most of the vegetables are gathered in one large garden, it’s interesting to note just how different they are.  They have unique needs, which they often pull right from the soil where they are planted.  But the care for each can be different if the optimal harvest is desired.  Some plants require no picking for several years after the initial planting (strawberries and asparagus, for example), while others will produce immediately and return as volunteer plants next spring!

Weeds need to be countered, so vegetable roots can spread and not be choked out; sometimes a specific fertilizer needs to be applied if the desired nutrients don’t live in your soil; and some want full sun, while others thrive better in partial.

God’s given us an enormous gift by granting us the care of the fruits of our labors within our vegetable garden.  But he’s given us another gift, as well.  We have the gift of caring for one another. 

It’s interesting to compare the human race to our garden.  We are each different and require individual ’nutrients’ to help us grow.  Some thrive in large crowded spaces, like cities; others want less crowds and find themselves deep in the country searching for solitude.  We are short and tall, thin and not so slender, lots of body hair and some with only a sparse amount.  We like different foods and drinks, books and entertainment, and again, the list could go on forever.  

The one element we all need however is a relationship with the Father.  Just like sunshine is a requirement for all plants, so is SonShine required for all humans.  Our nutrition is gleaned from God’s Word, prayer and fellowship with other Believers.  We grow as we read material which is scripture based, and listen to Sermons which teach the truths in God’s Word.  

In this way, God ‘tends his garden’ much as we tend our garden filled with different veggies every day.  It requires work to have a good harvest.   This is true with our vegetable garden and true within the framework of our ‘Spiritual Garden.’

I ask you…… ‘How does your Spiritual Garden grow?’  Are you working to pull out the weeds in your life.  Satan is an expert at planting seeds of doubt, and the whims of the world in our lives.  He’s diligent about making sure these evil seeds are watered and nurtured ——unless—-  we’ve been careful about pulling these ‘weeds’ much like the weeds which will take over my vegetable garden if I’m not diligent in removing them---and yes, I'm working on that!  

 

Photo Credit: pictures of spring vegetable gardens  --- No...the picture is NOT our garden, but we're getting there!   (I do have lettuce and spinach up, onions and asparagus, beans and more!)  But not nearly as pretty as these totally weed free gardens! 😂