The Garden. The beginning of humanity. Where God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. If you settle your heart enough, you can almost imagine the sweetness of the flowers, and the refreshing dew cooling your feet. Can you hear the birds singing and
the wind swaying in the strong trees?
Inhale, exhale. This is where we were meant to be.
2019 was the first spring where I owned a house. As the weather warmed, I had the overwhelming desire to grow some plants in my backyard. I picked up pallet wood from the farm I work at and went to town creating a raised garden bed. I borrowed the neighbor's sawzall and had the whole thing built before my husband, Ryan, even made it home from work. I needed the help of two men to move it to my backyard from the driveway, but I was so excited! I bought some seeds, planted them in the box, and waited for them to grow. Nothing happened. It turns out my backyard was too shaded for plants, with trees over 50 years old building a canopy for the birds and not leaving much room for the seedlings. So I gave up and turned my attention elsewhere.
Fast forward to early 2020. We had a dying hackberry in the corner of our yard. If you know much about hackberry trees, they easily split and drop branches, and the bugs that eat their fruit leave a sticky sap all over your cars. Every time it stormed, we moved our cars so the limbs wouldn't fall and bust through our windshields.
We gathered up the courage and spent some hefty dollars to have our tree removed. As we sat on the porch watching the workers take the tree down, my husband commented, "there goes our vacation money." Little did we know 2020 would be the year it was anyway.
After the tree service mulched everything and drove on their way, I stepped out in the yard and recognized how much more sun I suddenly had in that part of the yard. It was magical and warm! Not to mention that the cherry picker had already tilled up all the grass!
I claimed that corner of the yard as my take-two garden. In the early days of covid quarantine, I tended and sprouted my seeds with low expectations and nothing to lose.
The miracle of the whole thing was even though my plants never got more than 4 hours of constant sunlight, my garden was a place of abundance. God met me there. He spoke to me about the seasons, about the times of planting and harvesting. He reminded me of His sovereignty, of His provision, and of His creativity.
I see now, why Jesus spoke of reaping and sowing and trees and fruit. It's where we were meant to be.
Through the Lessons from a Garden series, I'll focus on how gardening changed my perspective of God and how he walked with me in the cool of the morning and quiet of the evening.
Inhale, exhale. This is where you are meant to be.
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