About Gardens

Gardens teach us a lot about life.  Which are the weeds and which are the plants to nurture?   Some weeds can look a lot like what we are trying to grow; they can be a close imitation but- they are still weeds that will choke out everything else and to no purpose.

Weeds can grow right close up to, or  into, what we are trying to grow.  It takes a knowing eye to discern which is the weed, and to pull it;  to not dislodge that which is growing, if the roots have become intertwined.

Weeding in a friend’s garden, takes a gentle touch; knowledge of what she’s growing. Gentle fingers to pull what should not be there, not dislodging the soil around the good plants, always working toward growth abundant.

Sometimes good things need to be pruned off in order for the best things to have room to grow large and healthy, like making time for priorities and subduing the urgent.  Still, it's painful to take off all those little rosy growing apples so just a few can flourish.

Sometimes it’s just not the right place for that plant.  Borage among the carrots will suffocate the carrots.  If it is the time in our life to care for the little carrots growing in our home, the borage will have to go, overwhelming and beautiful though it is.

 

And before ever a seed sprouts above ground, so much depends upon the soil preparation.  In a home, the parent’s inner life; the atmosphere of the home; the application of Proverbs and all of Scripture: till, fertilize, tend with diligence, and then realize that it’s not you who created the good seed, it’s not you who made the rich soil ingredients, it’s not you who makes the sun to shine nor the rain to water nor the organic matter to nourish.  And then you realize it really is all of grace, regardless of the value and importance of your efforts.

At the end of the day, with the bucket full of weeds, we can be assured that God delights in growing things that bear much fruit.