How does your garden grow?

The word gardening can evoke different feelings for different people.  To me it was always a "bad" word, because I grew up having to pull weeds frequently in the yard and never learned how to grow a garden.  Another big one is that I abhor to get my hands dirty.  So when my husband expressed interest in getting a garden plot at the local "Community Garden" in our city, I didn't jump for joy.  However, things are beginning to change....

Earlier in the week, we went over to clear out the weeds that had grown in our plot and get it ready to plant some plants that a dear friend had given me several weeks ago.  That evening did not turn out to be such a great experience, but it was an opportunity for the Lord to work on my character once again.  I blew it, and did a lot of apologizing that evening for reactions to situations that occurred while we tended to the garden. However, it did help me to see areas in my life where I need to change.  It is always best if we can learn from our circumstances, take correction and change in order to line up with how our Creator desires us to live.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction"

Prov. 1:7

During this week, my husband tended to the garden each day, taking one of our sons over with him on occasion.  It was fun for our little guy to work with his Daddy.  At his tender age of 5, he is so curious and interested in anything new.  Gardening is a great opportunity for our son to grow and develop in an area that is really lost in our society today, where parents and kids are most often glued to electronic devises 24/7 rather than being out in nature or working hard to grow their own food.

So this morning was a wonderful time for us to go get some veggies to plant in our garden.  We all went to the nursery and picked out our favorite veggies and then went over to the garden to plant.  As we were planting, we had to work together and we all did our part.  I have to say my husband was so awesome at working with my 5 year old and allowing him to do the work too, my boys have one AWESOME Dad. 

When we came home, I had a much different perspective about "gardening".  Several thoughts came to me about what I found enjoyable:

• It was providing a chance for our family to be together.
• We are learning to work together with 4 different personalities, and desires.
• As a family, we are "learning" how to tend to a garden.
• Our sons are learning to do "work". 
• We are being given opportunity to meet other people in our community.
• We get to watch our plants grow and hopefully reap a harvest of yummy veggies.

Having a garden isn't as difficult as I had always thought it would be, but it takes TIME!  We have to make time to tend to our garden.  We need to pull ourselves away from the things that gobble away at our time; over scheduled lives, TV, Internet, etc...  How exciting to pull away from the crazy fast lane of life and slow down to enjoy something that can benefit us spiritually, emotionally,and physically. 

Hmmm...that sounds rather familiar.  This is also what we need to do to tend to our relationship with God.  We NEED to take time to nurture our relationship with the Lord, taking time away from what we feel are the pressures of this life, having that childlike curiosity we had as a baby christian and seek out the Lord and desire to learn and grow, and working on the one and only relationship that brings life...the fellowship with our Heavenly Father.

What an awesome lesson to learn this week, and I look forward to the harvest both in my garden and in my relationship with God.



Weeds and Winning

 

Today, I pulled weeds in the yard with my 5 year old.  The experience was full of spiritual analogies.  There was one that I thought was worth sharing. 

I started pulling weeds and I realized that it seemed so much harder since the last time I pulled them about 6 months ago.  (I know, I should pull them out more regularly)  As I continued to work, I realized that the ground was so much harder because we have not had much rain lately and I don't know how often the sprinklers are going on.  The lack of water created this hard soil and it was difficult to get the tools in under the weed so that I could get it out.  This required so much more muscle and the process was so much slower than the last time. 

As I continued pulling weeds, I kept thinking about how the weed represents sin or bad habits that hinder our walk.  Sometimes we allow the weed to grow for a long time and don't have the time to stop and pull out the weeds that have sprung up.  We may say "oh I know I really need to do that, but I'll do it tomorrow".  I thought about how the water represents a combination of the Holy Spirit and the Word, and how when we are not walking in the Spirit or reading the Word regularly, we are not getting watered enough and our hearts can become harder and harder and harder.  The more we put off pulling out these weeds and not getting watered, the weeds in our life become larger and the process of removing them is harder and takes more effort.

So this week I will be watering more so that I can remove the weeds that have grown and I'm sure when I get a closer look, I may see some  smaller weeds to pull out before they become large and are harder to get to the root so they can be removed.  Happy Weeding!

Winning....

Here is my son who won First Place in the Pinewood Derby Car Race that his Royal Ranger Troop participated in today.  He was so excited.  Way to go buddy!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Phil. 4:13