Gifts from the Garden

 (this article was written in 2005 - about my garden on George Richey Road)

I hadn't been gardening for more than a few months before I began to realize that something was happening. 

I thought I was growing my garden.  I thought I was the one in control, when actually the garden was growing me, teaching me day by day. 

I used to garden just for the end results.  I liked the showy plants, bright flowers, and the way the front yard looked from the street.  But I have changed from enjoying the results, to enjoying the entire process.  The planning, preparation, and physical work used to be "have to's", but now they are “get to’s”.  

I didn’t understand how an older couple could constantly be out working in the yard or in the garden.  I thought, “How bored they must be.  They need to get a real life.  What makes them want to be out working?”.  But I have lately discovered that the garden is a school and the plants and flowers are God’s beautiful visual aids. 

Jesus used visuals relating to plants many times, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Matthew 6:28-30.  He knew that we need an earthly picture of heavenly truths. 

The Gift of Hope

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”,  Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2

I have been blessed by being part of a very close-knit Christian family.  There have been an abundance of joyful times, but there was also a three-year period when we experienced the deaths of three family members: a child, a father, and a grandfather.  Being surrounded by death teaches you to embrace hope.  My father’s tombstone reads - “Christ in you, the hope of glory “, Col. 1:27.  When we bury a loved one, seemingly dead, into a dark hole in the ground, we can be assured that there is hope in the resurrection of the saved.

Have you ever looked closely at a tulip bulb?  How can something so beautiful and colorful come from a dark, dried up object like that bulb?  Every dried up, shriveled seed you plant in the earth is a statement that you have hope in what God can do with something seemingly dead. The Lord gives you a tiny visual aid of your sprout of hope in about 2 weeks. Even then, you may not be sure if it is a weed springing up or what you actually planted.  If your “hopeful seed” fails, you try again! 

The Gift of Faith

“For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.“ Isaiah 61:11

I started gardening because I saw the faith and the fruit of experienced gardeners.  You don’t have to be old to be experienced.  When little Robbie Mixon came to our church baseball games with gallon buckets of the best blackberries in the world, (that he grew himself) I thought that I could try it, too.  The Mixon family graciously brought me some root stock of their blackberries and gave me instructions on how to plant them.  The last thing they said was, “They need to be in the ground within the next week”.  Well, this was the Saturday before our National Soul-Winning Clinic.  Sunday passed.  Monday passed.  Tuesday passed.  Wednesday....I walked out of the house in my choir outfit, manicured nails, and high-heeled shoes and saw the pile of blackberry roots.  I remembered Robbie Mixon’s wonderful blackberries that he had cultivated, picked, and sold.  If a six-year old could do it, I was going to do it.  I went to the shed, got the shovel, and followed the Mixon’s instructions.  It took me 30 minutes, a broken fingernail, muddy shoes, and scratches from the thorns, but I did it!  Today, there is a blackberry patch anyone would be proud of.  The example of a little boy’s work in a garden taught me so much about faith.  Even after I took my step of faith by planting the roots, I had to wait and watch God do the rest.  Faith is not faith until you step out and try. 

The Gift of Reaping More Than you Sow

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: ³²Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.   Matthew 13:31,32

I have always considered myself above average in intelligence.  But gardening has helped me with that consideration, I am dumber that I appear to be.  There are instructions attached to the little seedlings you purchase at the home improvement center.  There are also instructions on the little seed packets.  These are written by horticultural experts.  They know what they are talking about.  When I saw some peppermint seedlings, I thought it would be nice to have some to use for tea.   I bought several to plant around the house.  The instructions read - “Hearty grower.  Plant in a container or in an enclosed flower bed.  Invasive.“   I thought, “How in the world could these little scrawny plants be invasive.  I love peppermint,  you can’t have too much peppermint.  Well, I learned.  Read the instructions and obey them.  Before six months passed, my husband was mowing peppermint in the middle of the yard!  Peppermint was everywhere.  It was in all of the flowerbeds.  It moved to the backyard.  I could smell it when I opened the windows.  I learned that Preacher was right.  “You reap what you sow.  You reap after you sow.  You reap MORE than you sow!”.

The Gift of Patience

In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches the parable of the man who sowed good seed in his field.  At night, the enemy came and sowed tares among the good seed.  His servants suggested that he pull up the tares.  The master responded with a solution that took more time.  He told them to wait until the plants were full grown, then separate them - the good plants going into the barn and the tares to the fire.

Gardening teaches patience.  There is nothing instantly beautiful.  Even when every plant becomes mature, they won’t all blossom at the same time in the season.  You also have the elements to contend with, along with little insects and ornery weeds.  Could that be why many gardeners live longer?  They take care of each day’s problems, pruning, and plucking, and then look forward to the next day.  Patience is a gift learned while your'e on your knees for the umpteenth time doing the same old thing in the garden.  Mrs. Mary Gray , my pastor’s mother, is one of the best examples I know of a Christian lady.  She is 93 years old and is actively serving the Lord.  What does she do for a hobby?  She gardens on a grand scale.  She has beautiful vegetables and flowers.  You’d be in great company if you’d put on your gardening gloves and get out into the garden! 

The Gift of Friendship

One of the most important things I have experienced as a gardener is being part of a fellowship of growers.  If I could walk around my first cottage garden I would not only see plants and trees people have given to me, but I would remember friends of a lifetime who invested in me. 

A few examples of plants in my “Friendship Garden”.

v Jean Netherton’s famous bus barn irises.  The irises were being dug up to make space for a sidewalk, so she brought some over to share with me.

v Mrs. Martha Duckett’s Rose of Sharon Trees. 

v Grandpa Clennon McGee’s prickly pear cactus patch.

v Scott and Brenda Tolleson’s wood fern hedge (surrounding the back deck).

v Sherry Mann’s blue lobelia and rose geranium plants.

v Grandma Peggy Duckett’s red-berried nandina bushes

v Jean Netherton’s fragrant four-o’clock bushes (surrounding my front porch.)

This may seem unimportant to some, but as I walked around my yard I felt surrounded by God’s loving care through the friends I had made while gardening.  Each of these Christians had taught me more about giving and taking time for others than any book I could have read.            Taking time for people and giving some that gives back is a lovely way to be remembered.

The Gift of Growth

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  John 15:1,2. 

What does God do when he wants his children to bear more fruit?  He prunes us.  As a gardener, I didn’t like the idea of pruning, cutting back, or separating plants.  I worked so hard to get them to grow.  I liked them large!  I would read the instructions not wanting to believe they actually meant for me to obey them:   “After first bloom, cut back to half the height of the plant to increase bloom and keep plant compact and healthy”.  Cut back half of the plant?  My yard would look like it was mowed over!  Well, after three years of unhealthy, leggy-looking, plants, I decided to try obeying the instructions.  After I took the first painful cuttings, I understood the concept.  The plant would not receive all of the nutrition it needed if I kept the old blossoms on the long stems.  The plant would actually “go to seed”.  It would quit producing the blossoms and start the seed making process. 

Some plants must be divided to grow.  You can fill your yard with perennial plants by doing this yearly.  Some plants must be thinned out on a regular basis so they won’t choke each other out.  This is hard to do for the new gardener.  How do you know which ones to pull up?  Look for the weakest areas first. 

The Lord does this to His children.  He must cut us back, prune us, separate, or divide us so we can have the energy to produce more in the long run. 

The Gift of Beauty

The beauty of a garden can be seen in the rose, the lilies, and even the blossoms of a squash plant.  Neatly planted rows of vegetables remind me of the love our grandparents had for the land and for the families they worked so hard to care for. 

God made functional things beautiful.  So many times in our hurried world we only want to “get to the point”.  A trip is point “A” to point “B”, but what about the journey in between?  God made and designed every little flower, plant, bird, and giant landscape for our enjoyment.  He put beauty all around us so we would be thankful and remember His great love for us and His power in creation.

We also use the language of flowers to be remembered.  When a young man sends thoughts of love and affection, he doesn’t send an electronic gadget, like a toaster.  Instead, he sends something seemingly useless and impractical - flowers.  Flowers that will die, flowers that cost a lot of money, flowers that have no reason for existence, except to say “I love you”, or “I think you are important”. 

God’s gifts of beauty comfort the bereaved, adorn the joyful, feed the hungry, and decorate the smallest cottage to the largest mansion. 

Go outside, sit in a garden, and think about God’s gifts.  Or better yet, get a small shovel, work the soil, and plant a seed.  You might learn to like it!