Growing a Fruitful Garden

My childhood memories are full of hours spent in my dad's garden - weeding, digging, scratching, sweating…  these are not good memories.  Now that I am married to "the world's greatest husband" and am the mother to two of "the world's greatest young men" – my life did not consist of such things.  I am "the girl" in a house full of men.  I am the one that does not lift heavy objects, bag up trash, kill bugs, or sweat.  I am protected and pampered and I love every minute of it. 

After almost twenty years of marriage I have finally given in to my husband's request to have a garden.  After all… he is "the world's greatest". :)  Not unlike the pain of childbirth, God allowed my garden nightmares to fade and I began to think "maybe it won't be so bad".  This past spring we began the work of preparing to plant our first garden together.  The memories have come flooding back to me as once again I have been exposed to weeds, dirt, bugs, and sweat.  However, this time around my gardening experiences have produced a new benefit that I did not experience before.  In my efforts to grow the best vegetables and fruit, God has grown my mind.

I never realized how much "gardening" is mentioned in the Bible.  While I have never tended a flock of sheep, and I have a limited experience with the use of fishing nets, or even salt – I do relate to the different types of growth that can occur in different types of soil.  I have direct experience with sowing, weeding, and reaping.  There are so many ways that gardening skills can be used to not only produce a great crop, but also to grow and improve your spiritual life. 

One of the first steps in preparing for our garden was to decide exactly what we wanted to grow.  We had to look at the end result we hoped to achieve so that we would know what direction to go to get there.  Different crops require different soils, moisture levels, sunlight exposure, planting seasons.  Each crop will need protection from different pests and diseases that attack it to try and inhibit the growth… I could go on and on.  But, to get the best blueberries, I had to plant them in the soil with the best pH levels for blueberries – or more accurately – work the soil to get it to the correct pH levels.  To have any hopes of juicy red strawberries, they had to be planted in an area that gives them lots of exposure to the sun.  My favorite vegetable, squash, required the building of small dirt hills to hold the seeds, and regular application of plenty of sevin dust to hinder the evil beetles that work against me.  Each kind of seed or plant had specific needs that had to be met to produce the best fruit possible.  Some of the needs are universally required by all and some are unique to each plant.

In Galatians 5:22 we are told that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  This is the fruit that I would like to produce in my life.  I wonder what type of soil each of these require, and what is needed to prepare the best soil….  I wonder how much exposure to the "Son"….  I wonder what evils attack each one of these, and what is the best way to protect each fruit….  I wonder what preparations and continued care are needed to make sure that the best and healthiest fruit is produced….  And how do you best perserve each, after they are produced….  These are the thoughts that keep my mind busy while I am out in the heat, weeding, digging, scratching, and sweating.  I am making much better garden memories this time… and I also have "the world's greatest husband" working right there with me.          

Advertisement