When those teeny tiny strawberry seeds finally germinate and break through the soil, it calls for celebration! I’m not even kidding. This is the first year I’ve had success with my own strawberry seeds, and I cheered and did a little dance when they sprouted! 👩🌾
This same kind of excitement sparks all around my garden when I see new seedlings and fruit flowers. All my human babies have gotten so big, so now I grow my plant babies!
I’ve been gardening for about four to five-ish years, and I’ve grown so much as a backyard farmer, but I still have so much to learn. It wasn’t until Zeke was at the end of his years of chemo that I really dug in. (ba-dum chhh)
However, right around spring of 2020 I ran out of steam (for some reason), and didn’t do much in my gardens for about a couple years. It wasn’t until earlier this year that my motivation returned. I gave each of the kids their own 4×4 raised garden box, and the desire to teach them how to grow their own food has brought new incentive and purpose.
Zeke is growing watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes and peas. Mac, despite a midnight garden thief requiring a do-over and protective cage for his garden box the second time around, is growing pumpkins for the fall. Curtis is thrilled to be growing his favorite baby tomatoes, and the rest of us will be lucky if we get any! And a bonus of five beefsteak tomato plants were originally mislabeled as baby tomatoes. Score! Joey’s garden box is the pollinator patch, which basically requires zero attention…thanks to Mom’s strategic planning and suspicion of a lack of teenage interest in gardening! 🤔
I will say though, it was difficult to get back into the flow of gardening after a hiatus, because the thought of backbreaking work to get the soil prepared for planting was just too overwhelming. If you didn’t already know, weeds thrive on their own when ignored.🤦♀️ So I knew I had hours of exhausting work ahead of me before I could start growing again. And that thought is what kept my gardens dormant for so long.
I tried to just put one foot in front of the other. I had to start somewhere. So I picked one of my favorite parts… the seeds.
I start my fruits and veggies indoors so I can watch the progress every day at my kitchen windows. Then, inspiration sprouts with the first seed that pushes through the soil. It provides the motivation I need to amend the garden beds out back so they’re ready for when it’s time to harden off the plants and transplant them to the garden.
This last week my family enjoyed our summer vacation in Palm Springs, and I was thinking about my plant babies a lot. We were in the middle of the desert but surrounded by green! 🌴 The colors of the rolling golf course hills, palm trees against the sunset sky, and the hot pink bougainvillea flowers and green leaves brought such delight to my spirit.
One thing that was so rewarding was sitting outside on our patio the three mornings I was up early enough to enjoy the sunrise. Let me tell you, it is not easy to wake up in the 5 o’clock hour after several late nights in a row. (The first morning wasn’t so much by choice, but necessity as my early riser needed my assistance.🤷♀️) Despite the struggle to wake up, God used that time to draw me close to Him. That time with my Creator, watching His creation wake up to His glory was well worth the effort of getting out of bed early on vacation!
That rewarding joy is similar to the feeling I get when it’s harvest time in the garden. The anticipation of picking a watermelon from Zeke’s garden bed when we got home was so exciting! (And let me tell you, it tasted delicious!) The boys did a great job planting their seeds, and watching them grow, but I’m the one who has been watering and thinning and pruning and weeding. I’m not sure who was more excited… Zeke or me. (Okay, it was me. I was way more excited!!🎉🎉🎉)
Now that I know what all goes into gardening, the labor of love and dedication, I am drawn to the images in Scripture that illustrate our relationship with the Lord as the Gardener and His garden.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5
It is so hard to cut off the stems with little yellow flowers that would one day be sweet tomatoes, but I know it’s what’s best for my plants to be able to receive good air flow in order to produce much more fruit.
I want to be pruned so that I may bear more fruit! It’s difficult, and it doesn’t feel good. Often it’s inconvenient and exhausting. But I am confident that it’s what’s best for me, which means it’s also what’s best for my family and loved ones.
Lord, continue to draw me to you through the garden. Fill me with your motivation to put in the hard work that I may be refined by your hand, and strengthened to grow stronger in you. You display your glory in the colors of the garden. Your creation glorifies you in its beauty. Thank you for the privilege of experiencing your holiness in this way. Jesus, I pray your name over this day. Have your way, and be pleased in it.
I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul, rejoice!
Take joy my King in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
