Many of you
reading this article have already begun early spring garden preparations. I
have learned many things through the years in a garden. In addition to the hard
work required for a garden to produce, there are many spiritual lessons and
connections to be made while one is getting their hands in the dirt. I want to briefly
point out some. No doubt, you could contribute additional perspectives from
your own experience.
First, the conditions have to be
right in order for the seeds and bulbs to grow. For example, if the soil is too
damp and too cold, tomato plants will just sit there and their leaves will turn
yellow. They need the warm days, and the humid nights to take off and grow. On
one occasion Jesus likened the human heart and its receptivity to his divine
lessons to conditions of the soil. There was the good soil. There was the rocky
soil—giving opportunity for quick growth, but the plants wilted because there
was no depth. There was the hardened path that had been walked on—the seed
lying on the surface just right for the birds to pick up. And there was the
thorny, weedy soil where the plants couldn’t grow because they were choked out.
So, the preparation of my heart to hear life-changing messages needs constant
attention against shallowness, hard heartedness and carelessness.
Second, seeds need to be planted.
The colors of flowers and vegetables that will eventually come later in the
spring, summer and fall are pictured on the package. Whoever puts the picture
on the package is sending out the message of hope for a harvest: “If you plant
these seeds, this is what it will look like.” In my life, seeds will be planted
in two ways: my seed-thoughts that affect my life and behavior; and
golden-thoughts planted in the hearts and minds of young people. The thoughts
and deeds we implant in the hearts of young people are offered with an
incredible belief of hope in the future!
Third,
have you noticed the difference between a fertilized plant and a non-fertilized
plant? Try an experiment this spring and fertilize one and leave the other one
next to it untreated. You will be amazed at the difference! Fertilizing and
caring for plants means watering, cultivating, and feeding each plant what it
needs. When fertilizer is properly applied with right timing, amazing growth
occurs. In our own lives we need God’s fertilizer for our very souls. I am
referring here to His Holy Spirit and His Holy Word, Scripture, that is given
for the nourishing of the soul. Without this proper nourishment and timing,
there is no way I can mature and grow in my character, and live a soul-ful life
full of meaning and purpose that honors God and serves others.
Fourth, and this one follows on the
heels of fertilizing, there is the ongoing task of weeding. For some reason
weeds just grow naturally! Some are so pernicious and plaguing and maddening
that the only way to deal with them is to pull them completely up from the deep
root systems. Have noticed that bad habits in life are that way? Negative,
self-destructive and relationship-denying habits are hard to break. I remember
one time letting a particular weed grow to an immeasurable height and depth
just because I wanted to see how it would look full grown. Needless to say, I
had to use a pick axe and a shovel to dig it up and remove the root system.
Long gone was the day for that plant when I could just reach down and quickly
pluck it up. If I let bad habits, even wrong moral decisions, go too long,
long-gone will be the day when I can just reach down in my heart and easily get
rid of them. When I see a weed in my heart sprouting, I have to deal with it
now! Otherwise it becomes a monstrous, negative growth that is almost impossible
to root out.
And finally, patience for the final harvest is
necessary. I cannot go to my pepper plants in March and expect full grown
jalepenos. I cannot go to my cabbage plants in April and expect full grown
heads of cabbage. I cannot go to my tomato plants in May and expect big, round,
red tomatoes ready to be sliced for my BLT sandwich. Patience for the harvest
is a non-negotiable. I have to wait for the flowers to bud, blossom, and
produce fruit. It is hard to wait. That is counter-cultural right now. We want
everything instantly: communication, our lunch sandwiches and our travel
destination. But a garden teaches patience. We have to fight the deer off of
tender shoots, we have keep the bugs away, we have to wait for the spring and
summer rains, we have to endure the dry heat, we cannot force fruit and
blossoms and ripe vegetables before their time. I have to be very patient with
myself and with others when I look for the fruits of maturity and growth. A
harvest of character takes the patience of a lifetime. And, we are all at
different stages of our growth. As the Christian classic writer Hannah Whitall
Smith reminds us, we cannot go to the apple tree in the spring and expect a
ripe apple. The farmer’s seasonal patience becomes a model for patience in
character maturation.
Several years ago, I came across a
prayer by Richard Foster in his book entitled Prayers from the Heart. This is
where I first heard of the metaphor of “Gardner of My Soul.” I want to close
this month’s article with the following prayer with that same title. Listen now
to Foster’s insightful prayer taken from garden metaphors:
“Spirit
of the Living God, be the Gardener of my soul. For so long I have been waiting,
silent and still — experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong
name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask:
Clear away the dead growth of the past,
Break up the hard clods of custom and routine,
Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge,
Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word,
Cultivate and water and tend my heart,
Until new life buds and opens and flowers.
Amen.”
