Still Growing...

This year we are growing a garden for the first time! What an adventure! I am learning a lot and finding there is still much to learn. I have made a few mistakes and will surely make more (my most comical was probably planting the WHOLE potato instead of just the eye). Each day I go outside to see if anything new has grown and once the flowers started on the plants I was like a kid in a toy store, just so excited. Now, the fruit is starting to grow and I am beside myself with excitement. I can NOT wait to taste my very first organic, home grown tomato!

There have also been quite a few life lessons while tending my garden, it is truly a blessing how the Lord speaks to us through his creation.

· How in the world can something so fresh and tasty come from a little seed?

· Who knew the dirt mattered? Oh but the foundation is ever so important.

· And one of the greatest lessons for me has been patience. I planted my little seeds several months ago and still have not tasted one tomato, one crispy cucumber, one fried squash or one baked potato, yet they are all still growing.

So, what are the practical applications for you and me? Think of yourself as the little seed and God as the gardener. He has watered, weeded, fertilized, kept pests away and tended to you in every way to help you grow (if He is not your gardener, He wants to be, He gave his life so He could be).

Oh and what about the soil?  The Mushroom Compost I used in my garden is so rich and full of nutrients it is not at all like the rocky, clay soil underneath. If our foundation is not HIM we will surely wilt away when the tests of life come our way.

Let’s not forget about patience! Some days I wake up and I just feel that today is the day I will taste the fruit, other days I wonder if the fruit will ever ripen. I have three little seedlings (Ethan, Chandler and Addison by name) in my care and I must with patience tend my garden. They are still growing, just as I am still growing and I look forward with great anticipation to the day they are bearing fruit for the Lord.