Between rain, cool weather, and vacation, it has been difficult to get my garden out this year!!! I love working up the soft soil (we added a big truckload of good fresh topsoil to boost the health of our crop!), and I always end up thinking of God and His Garden. There are so many parallels between God and us gardeners!! We know He likes them; it is where He put His first man and woman! This year I was struck by the different ways plants need to be planted: I make mounds to put my squash into; the chives were to be planted in rows near the surface; the okra seeds were to be soaked before going into the ground at all; the tomatoes are planted as deeply as possible & then need to be staked for support; and the peas were to be planted pretty far apart and pretty deeply. My blackberry bushes just keep setting up housekeeping outside the area I allotted to them, and I have had to pull up several of their shoots to keep the garden area clear enough for the veggies! I got to thinking about the importance of planting each different kind of seed in just the right way for the maximum yield, and of course this thought led me to motherhood. I think so much about planting seeds in my daughters hearts, planting them not too early, not too deeply, but deep enough and early enough that they can take root. I think about the peas that were mostly washed out of my neat rows by the heavy rains just a few days after I planted them, and I think of things I have planted in my children's hearts that had to be replanted because of a storm came too soon afterward to let the lesson take root.
It also happens that I get tired of carving out rows in the dirt and I still have seed left. Now, I don't like to waste seed, so I might double up on the amount of seed in my row, or the number of seed potato pieces, just to use them all up. What happens is that the seeds are hampered by the extra seeds, and my production is also hampered. It doesn't produce more veggies for us; it actually probably keeps our yield down!! With my children, I can get so tired of planting seed that I just decide to cram some extra in one day, just so I don't have to try again tomorrow, but this always backfires. Always. Always. If I try to overexplain or try to make too much application out of a situation; if I try to make everything into a lesson, I might as well have saved my breath. Sometimes the ears are just not receptive to everything I might think I have to say at once. The apostle Paul tells me not to weary in doing good, though; he tells me to persevere and continue doing good works, to finish the course, to run the race all the way to the end. That means I will not give up, I will not try to cram in too much at a time, but will save some for next time. That means I will stop talking when I see that I have lost my audience, that I will save some seed for another day.
Another phenomenon in my garden occurs during weeding. Now, weeding is something I spend a lot of time on. A key to being a good weeder (especially when your garden is still young and seedlings are just pushing up!) is to know the difference between a weed and a desired veggie plant. If I can't tell the difference between the tomato seedlings and a weed, I am likely to pull up my Big Boys while they are Tiny Toddlers! There are some weeds that closely resemble vegetable plants, too; there is one especially that looks a lot like a squash plant. The way I am able to weed early on is to know exactly where I planted the squash hills and to look for the seedlings there, and anything else must be that pesky weed!! This brings my heart down around my knees; there have certainly been times when I thought I was helping to pull weeds in my daughters' hearts but ended up pulling on a good seedling. Not taking the time to first LISTEN to what they had to say has taken me down the wrong path more than once. Let's just say I learned early on how to apologize to my children. I still struggle sometimes to listen first and ask questions before I muscle in and try to fix some situation. A lot of times I misread the circumstances on my own and would speak up completely out of turn if I had rushed in.
Another big lesson I have learned in my vegetable garden: weeds like to grow right up next to the good plants. This is because (I suppose) they receive more water and fertilizer, and there is rich dirt around the roots of the purposed plants. Amazing, how hard it can be to pull weeds that have started growing up close to my veggies! I have to be very careful in removing the weeds, to make sure I don't damage the onion or tomato plant at the same time! Those weeds know exactly where the good stuff is; they don't make for the top corner that is always drier and not the best soil - oh no - they go right for the good stuff at the base of my food stuffs!! Now, this one is tricky to apply to my mothering; I like to fix things quickly and easily, and I don't like long drawn-out situations that don't resolve easily (please refer to my post/posts on impatience!!). Sometimes a situation calls for something on the order of a straight pin or a needle, and I come in swinging an ax. This often ends up being hurtful, and worse when I misunderstood the situation because I didn't stop to listen first (See last paragraph!!). A lot of situations need to just work themselves out; what I need to do is keep feeding the good stuff and wait til the bad is obvious before I offer to help weed my daughter's garden. I have had to learn the hard way that weeding immediately is not always the best thing - in my veggie garden I have pulled quite a few good seedlings because the weed had a better foothold; if I had waited a little to let the veggie plant take hold the weed might have been easier removed without damage to the veggie plant! Of course you run the risk of the weed choking out the good seed; this is a job for the Master Gardener. Cover that little seed in prayer and ask for discernment in timing your weeding job. He always knows when is the best time, and He would love for you to know too.
The last lesson for today I want to mention from my time in the garden is that I have to follow instructions for planting all my plants. If I didn't have the seed packets and access to gardening websites, there is no telling what kind of plants I would have!! Failure to read about what I plant has led to some crazy situations involving cucumber vines planted near zucchini plants, and much to my dismay planting the wrong companions can mean harm comes to both crops. As a mother, if I don't consult The Instructions about the precious souls put in my garden, I lose out on the One Resource that can help me plant them the way they are to be planted so they can grow the way they were made to grow and produce fruit for Their Gardener. It is a one-chance job; spring only comes once for me as a Mother; I have to be ready with my gardening tools when it does and work as hard as I can without becoming weary so I can produce fruit with the seed I have been given.
Go forth and plant the seeds you have been given in your garden - whether spiritual or physical!!!
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