One of the things I did during my recent vacation was to plant a garden. What a blessing to be able to do so! I have not had a chance to do gardening since I was living with my parents. In the beginning, “the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Gen 2:8). And he was to work it and keep (or better yet, guard) it (Gen 2:15). One goal of creation is that the entire earth be transformed from desert to garden. And we hear that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife…” (Gen 2:24). Thus a new household is created and then a new garden until the earth is full and subdued.
Even after the fall we are still to go about the work of gardening.
To be sure, the curse on the ground makes it much more difficult than it would have been before. This is something I knew well growing up as I helped my father in tending to the gardens and fields that we maintained and that I was reminded as I broke ground this summer. Thorns and thistles and other weeds are a pain, if you cannot get out the whole root, look for it to come back with a vengeance. But most of the things we plant seem to take their time.
I had started some tomato and pepper plants from seed several weeks earlier. So they were not starting in the garden from seed, but the plants are tiny. I planted other things from seed and just recently I have begun to see some sprouts. I was wondering if anything would even come up and everything is growing agonizingly slowly. I do not know what fruit (and vegetables), if any, I will be able to harvest.
Change in our own lives can be similar. God has planted us where we are so that we will blossom and produce good fruit. But growth in Christ can seem agonizingly slow at times. And due to the curse we have to go about the work of weeding around us things that can choke us and bring death – weeds that seem to grow much more quickly than we do. We continually need the water of life in order to grow.
Gardening begins at home. Our household is a miniature garden that needs to be worked and guarded. Even the little children, like Josiah, can help to water it. And the household of faith that assembles together as Niagara Presbyterian also needs to be worked and guarded. As with the shepherding metaphor from the last newsletter: We are to know, feed, lead, and protect the sheep. Or to fit a gardening theme: we need to know those God has planted here, feed and water those plants, and guard/weed the garden.
The trick is to realize that we are each plants and we are each involved in the work of gardening. Take a look at your own life. What weeds are bringing you death? What areas are as dry as the desert? But also: Where do you see growth? What is the quality of the leaves, blossoms, and then the fruit you are producing?
Growth will be slow, sometimes so slow that others will be able to see it in us easier than we can see it in ourselves. Sometimes it will seem agonizingly slow. And the weeds do grow fast. And we constantly need water. But the garden of the King, Jesus Christ, is going to be one spectacular scene when it is fully grown!
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