It is summer. Meaning gardens and growing and weeds and watering. My garden this year has been the best yet since we've moved here. Actually probably the best in a long time, especially considering the weather. Hot and dry in May, so watering was in order. Every. Single. Day. Then by July you just wished it would stop! My beans and peas both did quite well actually, but the beans finally just got too wet underneath, so I pulled them out. Haven't put new ones in yet, but plan to this weekend, along with peas. Brassicas and lettuce too. They love the cool weather.
We have been pretty diligent with weed control this year. My 12 year old has really taken an interest in the garden, so she has been very helpful.
But the plants are not why I'm writing. It's about growing. Children. As I tried to gently train my peas in the way that they should go, I thought how much easier it would have been if I hadn't skipped a couple of days. I had to be so much more careful. Not to force. Not to bend. Not to break. Then there are the weeds. Getting them while they are small is so much easier. Yet, much care must still be taken when those plants are tiny and tender. Pulling out the weeds, we must not yank the plant up by its very roots. And we must fertilize the soil in which they grow.
The helping girl with the hoe who by walking backward did not see the flowers planted there; the smiling girl with handful of beets not quite big enough; the broken piece of pea plant lying on the ground shriveling in the sun all blooms and baby pods. These are the garden things that bring out the real me. The me who needs to grow in grace. The me all full of self and pride. The me God needs to bend and train. In my garden, He is there. Gently working at my weeds. Showing me the way. I don't deserve His gentleness, for I don't always give it.
He is teaching me if I will learn. To gently lead, to gently train. To be diligent. To be consistent to check for little weeds cropping up, and pull them out before they become so large, no amount of pulling will remove them. That happens when the soil is too dry and hard. To water, yes, with the Word, and fertilize with Love and Joy and Laughter sprinkled liberally. The plants will grow, they will thrive and will even rise up to call you blessed.
And you know you don't deserve it, yet the grace is there, and the sun rises on a new day.
Dr S.M. and RaeJean Davis have been married for 44 years. He is a retired pastor, now full time conference speaker with a DVD ministry devoted to Biblical solutions to family problems, as well as foreseeing and avoiding them. We have been very blessed by his teaching. Check it out:)
http://www.solvefamilyproblems.org/Default.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment