Lessons in a Garden 2

Lesson 2: Bloom Where You're Planted

Once my wife and I had decided what we wanted to grow, the next big decision was where. There were already two flower beds of sorts at the front of our house (we had just recently moved here) so we thought it best to utalize these rather than dig up our lawn. The bulbs in the fall and plants in the spring would go at the front of the house. The backyard had a few scraggy plants in one corner that seemed out of place. This would be our vegetable garden. We tansplanted a bush to the front of the house and two prennuals to one of the flower beds. The bulbs, bushes, and vegetables had no say in where they were put. Their responsibility was simply to bloom where they were planted.

While we often have choices in life, sometimes there are circumstances that restrict or eliminate choice. An illness may force us to retire early. It is not our choice. The company we work for closes and we are forced to look for work elsewhere. It is not our choise. A flood destroys our neighborhood and we are forced to relocate. It is not our choice. Our spouce dies and we are forced to make decesions about our future. Somtimes we are uprooted. Sometimes we are like plants growing in rocky soil, struggling to make a living. In situations beyond our control, we have to learn to trust God completely and to bloom where circumstances have planted us.

Philippians 4:12-13

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

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.