Lessons from a Garden 1

Lesson 1: Deciding What to Plant

Today we begin a series of lessons I gleaned from the backyard vegetable garden and the front yard flower garden that my wife, and I planted. I figure that the flower garden is hers, but the vegetable garden is mine, but she might argue with that. Our first task was to decide what to plant. Way back in the fall Shirley said she wanted tulips and crocuses coming up in the spring, so it was off to the store to purchase bulbs. With cold weather approaching and snow falling in some parts of the country we buried bulbs in anticipation for spring that was six months away. I said I wanted to plant vegetables in the backyard and dreamt of carrots, turnips, tomatoes, and perhaps potatoes. But I would have to wait until spring to make my selection and begin planting. The spring would also reveal whether the bulbs we sowed would grow.

An old gospel song says,
"Seeds now we are sowing, and fruit they must bear,
For blessing or cursing, for joy or despair;
Though we may forget them, the things of the past
Will work out God's sentence upon us at last."

God has given us the power to decide what "seeds" we want to plant in our life. These can be seeds of bitterness, hatred, resentment and the like, or they can be seeds of thankfulness, love, forgiveness and joy. The choice is ours, so let us examine our lives daily and decide well, what we want growing in our lives.

Galatians 6:7-8
A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.