Seeing God In My Garden

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!!!

Time and Impatience Part 1

I am convinced that part of the curse in the Garden of Eden was the curse of Time. I think when we were created on this Earth, being bound by the constraints of Time was not part of God's plan. When Adam & Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden, part of the curse when they left was now having to live in the Time dimension. When God told them they would surely die, He did not mean instaneously; He meant they would have to die physically, and that was not part of His original plan. The first reference made to the length of life for Adam and Eve was not upon their creation; it is in Gen. 3 vs. 14 and 17, when He is outlining the conditions of their fall and subsequent curse. To both of them He mentions "all the days of your life." I think this was the first information recorded that they would have been given to understand that their lives were not instantly over, but that they would now have an end.
This explains so much of my world: my penchant for impatience, my longing for different times and different passages of life; my discomfort with one area of life while I am completely contented at the same time with another area; my frustration at not being able to know what is coming up for us; my anxiety at not knowing where things will lead. C.S. Lewis referred to the fact that we never see fish uncomfortable in their natural surroundings of water, but we humans never have gotten comfortable in our surrounding of Time. It was one of the indicators for him that we were never meant to be mortal. I wholeheartedly agree. As we are told in Ecclesiastes, God has set eternity in our hearts so we naturally hunger for more than the Time period we are given to live out. To be continued.......

What Kind of Tree?

Just wondering - how did I not notice trees for so long?? The last 15 years or so have made me so aware of trees and the different growth rates, and I have fallen in love with trees. Anytime I see some being topped or cut down I just mourn. Recently, in a storm, I walked through our neighborhood and saw a big tree that had split down the middle. It was a big mature Bradford pear, and it was in full color when it split. There were beautiful dark red and green leaves all over it, but it was hanging across an electric line and being supported by the two utility poles in the yard. It was such a sad sight, that tree half hanging over the wires and half still standing. The inner tree wood was so bright but somewhat stained by the recent rains. It was just sad. What it did was make me think: would I be that kind of tree when storms hit me? Would I just split down the middle and hang on something or someone nearby? The trees that seem to make it the best are the slow growers, the oaks and walnuts. We have two oaks in our side yard, and they have been there over five years, and they are just this year beginning to have some shape and height. They even showed some fall color finally!! I have been so impatient about them - couldn't wait for them to have some pretty fall leaves, and then when they did I was so surprised!! At the other side of our yard we have a huge walnut, probably over 100 years old, which has weathered some storms. Apparently it has been struck by lightning at least once, yet it still grows leaves and walnuts and comes out every spring. It hit me that those old trees, which take so long to grow and are so slow to show us their "stuff" are the ones that made it; that Bradford pear and others like it were so quick to grow large and cover themselves with pretty blooms and leaves that they outgrew their trunks, and they are the ones that we find split up after storms come through. They weren't patient enough to grow large enough to hold all that beauty, and consequently old Bradford pears are rare indeed.
The lessons I always hope to keep from these trees are these: I hope to remember to grow slowly is not a shame, because often growing quickly doesn't allow roots and sturdy trunk growth. I should grow slowly and let God shape me as I grow. That way when storms do come I will be strong and continue to produce fruit after the storms are gone. The other lesson I hope to remember is to be patient and wait for the Lord. This does not come naturally - I am a very impatient person, and so I have to constantly remind myself of this truth. However, in the times when I am patient it is amazing that these are the times I am rewarded and see much more benefit than when I try to force things to happen. God is patient, and He is patient in teaching me. I am so glad - I have failed so often in these lessons, but He can even use trees to remind me of what I need to know!!

Glory to God in Disability??

There is a story about Jesus that has puzzled me for a long time. He and his disciples encounter a blind man who has been blind his whole life. One of the disciples asks Jesus who sinned and caused the man to be blind, either his parents or him. Jesus answers that the sin of no one was responsible for the man's disability, but that it was for the glory of God (see story in John 9).
Now, the quick answer for me has been that of course the blind man was in the right place at the right time, and therefore his healing brought glory to God. This has never been very satisfactory to me, however; why would this man be made with a disability just so he could be healed by Jesus in a public place? Where does this leave all the others born disabled in some way who weren't/aren't healed? Did Jesus mean all disabilities were meant for the glory of God? I think the answer is yes. I think God's sovereignty allows Him to make bad into good. Go with me for a minute. Especially when my children were younger, but even now, when I am around a disabled child (i.e., autistic, physically disabled, even crippled by disease) the selfish part of me immediately would shoot an arrow prayer to the Lord thanking Him again for the good health of my children. I said the selfish part. More on that in a minute. I think part of what Jesus was trying to tell us is that seeing what others might have to endure through disabilities or disease should help us to realize what blessing we have received in good health and be even more thankful to God. Realizing good health is not a right everyone is born with means I have the chance to send glory to God for what I have been given. That glorifies Him on an ongoing basis, if we take that opportunity.
When I see a person who can't walk or never developed properly, it makes me pause & quit thinking about myself - what I am trying to accomplish at that second - and reflect on the fact that I can drive, I have 2 good legs, 2 good arms, and correctable eyesight, as well as a car that goes when I turn the key. I am immediately thankful for those blessings, even though I might have taken them all for granted when I left my house! This is part of what I think Jesus was trying to get us to see - that taking the time to notice our blessings happens partly when we see the lack of those blessings around us.
Back to my selfishness - in being thankful for our good health, should I drop it there? Just count my chickens & say "Well, there but for the grace of God go I."? I don't think that's the last word. Did Jesus just walk through the streets saying placating words to the suffering? No - His heart was touched constantly and He healed and helped people constantly (John tells us at the end of his book that if everything Jesus did was written down, the world would not have room for all the books). When he came to the blind man, He took that opportunity to heal the man. He didn't say he needed to live the rest of his life blind so others could be grateful for their good fortune. He healed the man. That is to be my response. I can also glorify God by ministering when I can to those who do have a special need. This also brings Him honor and helps both me and the person I help see the love of God more clearly. I am to be the Lord's hands and feet to those around me every chance I get.

Just a thought - I hope I can communicate this idea in a way that makes some sense to somebody else!! It has struck me over & over during the last couple of years, but for some reason several times recently, that we stand on God's structure for His creation when we criticize or even claim it's not there. For example, the gay-rights activists have been given the advantage of being born from heterosexual relationships when they claim their right to other types of relationship. Atheists use perfectly designed lungs and hands with opposable thumbs like no other species to talk and write about why they believe there is no Designer to anything we see. We claim to be intellectually advanced when we find new knowledge about our universe with telescopes and advanced technologies; we are using the air and space as we find it to do so. It was there waiting for us to use already. The seeds of everything we know already existed before we found out about it, and yet we claim the right of creation, if you will pardon the term, when we figure out a new way to use it. In all our time here on earth (whether you believe 6,000+ years or 6,000,000+) we have not created one new atom of matter nor have we destroyed one. With all the creative ways we have of causing damage (i.e., murder, torture, CFC's) we have gotten rid of nothing. All we can do is change its form. It was all here in the Beginning and apparently will be here til the End, which we do not exercise control over. One of my favorite bumper stickers ever was "If you don't believe in Me, quit breathing My air." That sums up a lot of what I am trying to say. We use God's design for the family, for society, and then we want to claim it doesn't work or it is inferior in some way or needs to be added on to. If we were honest, we would recognize that every structure that works and has worked in the past was designed for us to use; we haven't come up with anything new. Not one atom's worth.

History - Not So Boring After All!!

It is almost depressing to watch news lately & wonder what in this WORLD is going on? It just seems that news outlets try their best to find only items to fire us up or make us feel everything is spinning out of control. That is one great reason to study - History!! Are you ready for this?? I had history throughout school (even if you leave out the courses taught by our football coaches!!) and I never got it. That lasted til I began teaching it to my children, which of course meant I had to study it, and now I Get It. At least a lot more of it. I get that it is His Story now, not just history. I get that He is always, and has always been, in total control, that all the circumstances, no matter how dire they look(ed) have always been part of His perfect plan. No matter what. I could pay lip service to that idea before but never really got it. Now I am beginning to get it. The Romans were apparently a very advanced society, even when compared to many modern societies. They understood waste & rotten food were bad & to be dumped in a common place rather than streets, they had running water & even a type of sewer system in their cities, and they spent much time on philosophy & art. Yet where are they? They turned so completely and bald-facedly away from God, even when faced with His Incarnation, that they were destroyed. Just the same way most great civilizations have been - from the inside out. They were chipped away by barbarian invasions, but that was because they had become so complacent that they hired soldiers when they could no longer staff their own armies to protect their vast empire; they allowed non-citizens to take jobs customarily staffed by their own; they abandoned "traditional" models of family and societal units; they quit teaching the basics in their schools and favored more "politically correct" subjects, for that day and time; reading and learning fell out of favor and were replaced by entertainment in various forms. Strangely enough, their society began to crumble & then was helped by invaders from the north and east to finally completely tumble. Thus began the Dark Ages.
Could this be repeated in any society today? I have one word for you: Germany. Study Hitler at all and you see he sounded good but was hollow, and complacent Germans let him take over. It is amazing how similar the stories are, and also how similar it sounds to our own story.
However, there is no room for despair: God will only allow to happen what He knows will be for our ultimate good and for His glory. After all, that is what this is all about: it is what we were made for. Soli Deo Gloria!

Wisdom from our Spelling Book

I want to share a few of my favorite quotes from our spelling book, which has a sentence for every word in the list as an example of usage. This week, on the word "developed" the sentence was "Gossip, like a snapshot, begins with a negative, is developed, and is often enlarged." Don't you just love clever word usage? I love that someone recognized the similarities and pointed them out so succinctly!! What a great quote. That is the pure and simple truth. Gossip, which is also just like a weed, can do nothing but harm and take up room that could be used for something worthwhile. Just a random thought for the day!!
Another one of my favorites was a quote from Daniel Webster, "What makes a man a good Christian also makes him a good citizen." Wow. How true is that. Good Christians are also good citizens, and they don't have to have the government coercing them into it. It just flows out with the grace of God into doing the things a good citizen would do, but backed up with the power and love of our Lord. Amazing.
Still another of my favorites is "A Christian is the keyhole through which other folks see God." That is a great thought. If I realize that when I interact with others, they are (whether I realize it or not) getting a picture of what I worship, and if I tell them that is God, they will judge Him at least partly on what they see in me. Scary thought! He sure has entrusted me with a big responsibility. Multiply that by at least 1,000 and call it "motherhood."
One more and then I will quit. "Man's 32,600,000 laws do not improve on the Ten Commandments." Isn't that all you need to know? Really, doesn't it all boil back down to the original laws, when we are honest? Hope this gives you a morsel to chew on!! Spelling sure challenges me sometimes, as a teacher!!! :)