Seek: In the Garden
“…but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” Acts 14:17 NLT
I have a black thumb. Every house plant or flower I’ve been gifted has met a swift demise. Partly because I am away from home so much, but partly because it’s just not my natural gifting. But at the age of thirty-three I decided to give vegetable gardening a try. I ordered two cedar raised beds from a friend and placed them in the perfect place in my tiny backyard. I knew nothing about what plants need to survive in the Pacific Northwest, but was ready to give it my best try!
With grand dreams of harvesting salad greens, tomatoes, and herbs I visited a local nursery and filled my cart with seed trays, soil, and mulch. I carefully selected plants I knew we would eat. Kale, herbs, and mixed greens for me, cherry tomatoes for the kids, and jalepeno and shishito peppers for my husband. I checked out books from the library with names like “The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Great Vegetables” and “Vegetable Gardening for Dummies.”
We spent a weekend in May preparing the dirt, staging where each plant would go, digging holes for those sweet little starts and fighting over who got to use the hose. Then…we waited. How would I know if I succeeded? Did I plant everything too close together? Did we get too late of a start? Would I be able to keep up with the watering and the pruning?
Over my first year of gardening I learned that, yes, some plants were too close together, we did start a bit late, and I actually can (usually) keep up with the watering and pruning. I learned that I’m very good at growing tomatoes and salad greens and that I need to do some more research on onions and brussels sprouts (Am I the only person who didn’t know they are called brussels sprouts and not brussel sprouts?!). I learned that with a garden comes bugs of all kinds, some good and some bad. I learned that when you travel a lot and entrust the watering of your garden to someone else you need to be very specific how often to water (or your peas will suffer a miserable fate).
But one of the most important things I learned to do is you have to put in the work, and then trust. To be patient and enjoy the slow process of growth. My garden didn’t grow anything I could eat overnight. No, it took tender care, rain, sunshine, and time. But in the waiting there was so much joy! I learned to enjoy cool mornings and evenings bent over baby kale and trimming herbs. I always feel closest to God when I am outside, soaking in His beautiful creation. God put us on this earth and all the way back to Adam and Eve tasked us with caring for the land.
But with the work comes evidence of God’s goodness. When it’s work we enjoy, it’s not work anymore. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and lean into the passions and purposes he has placed in our lives, the blooms are many and the harvest is fruitful. We can find joy in the rain and the waiting and the weeding. All the time spent cultivating my little plants was hard work, but it was so worth it. Worth the time spent outside in the sun and the dirt and the rain. Worth the failed crops (sorry, sunflowers, brussels sprouts and snap peas) and the aches from leaning over the garden beds.
Not only was the work worth it for the fresh basil for caprese, the crisp greens for salads, or the afternoons where my little ones would stroll outside and grab a sunsweet tomato to pop directly into their mouths. It was worth it to see the actual fruits of my labor. To trust in something I don’t understand, but have hope in. It’s the same way with Jesus. When we do the work, when we care for the land and community around us, we see God’s faithfulness.
Are you taking time to care for the land? Maybe not physical land, but the space around you, the place where God has planted you. Or are you comfortable just tending to your own desires? It’s so easy to do. So easy to get into a rut and be distracted by everything else but where God has placed us and what he has tasked us with. To tune out the work that needs to be done and let our life go unwatered and the weeds to go wild. Your work might be different than mine. Your purpose is unique, but we all have one. Maybe it’s to be a mom, or provide for your family, or to love your neighbor (or learn to love yourself!), or to serve others.
My prayer for you today is that just like I learned in the garden that we must put in the work and be patient to see growth, that you would seek areas in your life God is asking you to cultivate. Don’t avoid the hard things or the areas where there is work. There is a fruitful harvest waiting if you can trust and seek the spaces God is asking you to nurture in your life.
May you Seek + Sojourn more,
Teddi Jo
