Plowing, tilling, sowing, tending, waiting. We’ve planted our first official garden in twenty couple years. Over the years we’ve set out plants here and there trying to get a tomato, pepper or even a pumpkin. We’ve not been overly successful in the past because we just didn’t have good soil and we just couldn’t get it worked up. But this year we actually have real rows, a designated worked up space. We’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, spinach, beets and collard greens. We’ve over planted, but feel certain that if the garden is tended properly, we will reap the fruits of what we’ve sown. That’s how it works, isn’t it?
Reaping is the fun part, it’s the whole point of the garden, to watch the fruit form, pluck it from the vine and take it in and enjoy is all part of the reaping process. It brings such satisfaction, such peace. But, before we can reap, we must sow and before we sow the soil must be prepared to accept the plant. That’s exactly what you see Tony doing and let me tell you that is such hard work. Anyone who has prepared a garden before completely understands what I’m talking about.
As a gardener, the first step is picking a good spot. Gardens need sun and water to grow. You have to pick a spot that’s open to both. You can’t plant a garden in the shade, among rocks, where no moisture ever hits. The garden then needs tilled up. The gardener decides whether to do it by hand or by tiller. I’ve not had much experience (and still don’t) with a rototiller, but man, those things are beasts. They weigh a ton, they never start on the first try, they are loud, and destructive. Overall, they’re just this huge obnoxious piece of dangerous machinery that rips and tears and beats the ground and beats you to death in the process. Think about it – this thing has sharp blades that slice and dice the earth. But, those blades loosen the soil, turn under the grass, reveal the rock so you can pick it out, and expose the beautiful, rich, healthy soil that is now ready to receive life. The gardener is the one who prepares the garden to receive life.
Loosening the soil, turning under the grass, and picking out the rocks in our hearts is laborious and oft times painful. Exposing the rich soils of our hearts in order to receive Life can feel like that monster rototiller, can’t it? Ripping, tearing and exposing our hurts, our pain, our sinful actions and our sinful attitudes – all those things that would choke out the plant Life. Sometimes after the tiller has gone through we feel like we’ve taken a beaten. But, the Gardner knows what He is doing. Cleaning out our garden hearts is simply opening them, and making more space to receive more of Him, making room for Him to sow rows of seeds that produce the fruits of the Spirit.
Now that Life has been planted in our garden hearts we must tend them. You see, just like the plants in our vegetable garden, if we do nothing to protect the plants, if we do not weed-and-feed, if we do not stake the plants, if we allow a tree to grow over and shade our garden, if we don’t water, if we don’t throw out the rocks that come to the surface, our plants will die and definitely not produce fruit. We are the same. If Life has been planted in our garden hearts and we don’t take care of it, it will die. Life cannot be planted in the soil of our hearts and stay the same small plant without roots. If we are not growing, we are dying. If we are not moving forward with Life, we are moving backwards because life keeps moving forward. Our hearts are either alive or dead. There’s no in between. You can’t be half-pregnant. You either have Life growing in you, or you don’t. You can’t be half-alive. God says hey, let me help you get rid of that hard, rocky heart you have. Let me plant within you eternal Life. Be wary of weeds and lack of Living Water that will take all sustenance and dry out your heart and make it hard. He offers a fence around the garden of our souls to keep out those things that would snatch us up by the roots and eat us right down to the ground –it is His Word. The Sower has sown Life into our hearts. It is our responsibility, along with His help, to tend that Life.