Gardens of Life
This summer I thought I would try my hand at gardening. It had been many years and another location when I had done so in the past. All seemed to go well, the ground was rototilled by the kindness of my church family and my plants were in.
Ah, sweet bliss. Now all I needed to do was an occasional weeding and watering of my plants, then I could sit back and enjoy those delicious tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers!
"She's delusionsl," some of you veteran gardners may say, or at the very least naive.
Too true, however, I find that I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. That is a fancy way of saying I have to learn from my mistakes.
Trouncing out to my garden after a lovely 3 days of rain, I was sure some enemy came in the night and transplanted weeds in the thing. I was hard pressed to find my initial plants that I had been babying up to this point. What a shock. Rainwater is quite potent, I have discovered. It's a good thing I don't drink it directly, I would be 6'5" instead of my 5'10" in no time! It must be akin to the water the Ents dring in the epic tale of "The Two Towers" by Tolkien.
As I was "weeding" my garden last night, some interesting philosophical musings came to mind. I did initially mulch around my plants with grass clippings (we have tons of this) thus, the major weeds were directly around the plants. I thought the mulch would take care of all the weeds....there she goes again in la la land. This reminded me of how we as Christians think that we only need to "cover our children" with the mulch of God's Word and statutes and they will be fine.
Our children swim in Youth group, Sunday school, Wednesday services, Awana's etc. They watch Christian programming, cartoons and movies. These are all good, I am not slamming them. But, our we assuming, as I did that this is enough? There were still weeds around my plants after the rains. So much so that I could not find them.
Has this happened to you...have your children or you been caught up in weeds so long you cannot recognize them or yourself? That happened to me. My oldest son now proclaims to be an atheist. He was a stellar Awana athelete, having more scripture commited to memeory than I do, had more Christian influence than most people. Yet, what happened? Weeds, my friend. They come.
The good news is that the plant is there and is the same. The weeds just need to be pulled. My son is in his mid 20's and on the adventure of a lifetime. God is his gardener now, and He produces the best fruit. Therefore, as I pray for my son, I do not worry, for God is not neglegent in His gardens as I have been in mine.
Back to my garden. As I pulled the tiresome weeds, I found they came out easier when the ground was wet and as each stem was pulled, I could see the original shape of my desired plants. They were there.
What I learned from this experience was: 1. Although my children were covered almost smothered with Christian truth and paraphanalia, I neglected to get close to them, spend quality time with them in order to see the weeds in their lives. 2. I can do that now, perhaps from a different platform since they are grown, but nevertheless, I still can have a place. 3. Just because they appear different (their beliefs may have changed) they are still the wonderful people they always were. 4. When I do pull some weeds, especially the ones growing around my 17 year old, I make sure the ground is heavily watered with genuine love and respect becausse then the weeds come out much easier.
And...Finally...God is the gardner of my life, though I see weeds creeping up, I do not need to worry, for He knows how to pull weeds. All I have to do is let go when he pulls.
May YOUR gardens be lush, bearing much fruit to One who gave us the seeds...
Beth
Ah, sweet bliss. Now all I needed to do was an occasional weeding and watering of my plants, then I could sit back and enjoy those delicious tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers!
"She's delusionsl," some of you veteran gardners may say, or at the very least naive.
Too true, however, I find that I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. That is a fancy way of saying I have to learn from my mistakes.
Trouncing out to my garden after a lovely 3 days of rain, I was sure some enemy came in the night and transplanted weeds in the thing. I was hard pressed to find my initial plants that I had been babying up to this point. What a shock. Rainwater is quite potent, I have discovered. It's a good thing I don't drink it directly, I would be 6'5" instead of my 5'10" in no time! It must be akin to the water the Ents dring in the epic tale of "The Two Towers" by Tolkien.
As I was "weeding" my garden last night, some interesting philosophical musings came to mind. I did initially mulch around my plants with grass clippings (we have tons of this) thus, the major weeds were directly around the plants. I thought the mulch would take care of all the weeds....there she goes again in la la land. This reminded me of how we as Christians think that we only need to "cover our children" with the mulch of God's Word and statutes and they will be fine.
Our children swim in Youth group, Sunday school, Wednesday services, Awana's etc. They watch Christian programming, cartoons and movies. These are all good, I am not slamming them. But, our we assuming, as I did that this is enough? There were still weeds around my plants after the rains. So much so that I could not find them.
Has this happened to you...have your children or you been caught up in weeds so long you cannot recognize them or yourself? That happened to me. My oldest son now proclaims to be an atheist. He was a stellar Awana athelete, having more scripture commited to memeory than I do, had more Christian influence than most people. Yet, what happened? Weeds, my friend. They come.
The good news is that the plant is there and is the same. The weeds just need to be pulled. My son is in his mid 20's and on the adventure of a lifetime. God is his gardener now, and He produces the best fruit. Therefore, as I pray for my son, I do not worry, for God is not neglegent in His gardens as I have been in mine.
Back to my garden. As I pulled the tiresome weeds, I found they came out easier when the ground was wet and as each stem was pulled, I could see the original shape of my desired plants. They were there.
What I learned from this experience was: 1. Although my children were covered almost smothered with Christian truth and paraphanalia, I neglected to get close to them, spend quality time with them in order to see the weeds in their lives. 2. I can do that now, perhaps from a different platform since they are grown, but nevertheless, I still can have a place. 3. Just because they appear different (their beliefs may have changed) they are still the wonderful people they always were. 4. When I do pull some weeds, especially the ones growing around my 17 year old, I make sure the ground is heavily watered with genuine love and respect becausse then the weeds come out much easier.
And...Finally...God is the gardner of my life, though I see weeds creeping up, I do not need to worry, for He knows how to pull weeds. All I have to do is let go when he pulls.
May YOUR gardens be lush, bearing much fruit to One who gave us the seeds...
Beth
posted by beth at 8:47 AM
2 Comments:
My father had the same problem. When I became an adult I was a self-proclaimed atheist myself. But my father kept praying and praying and eventually the Lord softened my heart through an endless series of personal tragedies. The Lord was trying to get my attention and he certainly succeeded. AMEN! Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. I will join you in prayer that your prodigal son returns. And in the late summer when your garden comes to fruition, you can show me how to can and preserve. Love ya!
Tony B.
Just know that I'm praying for you and your sons, Sista! Isn't it funny how relentless those weeds are? They just never stop! But God has promised to do all the work in our gardens and all we have to do is yield them up to Him. What a wonderful God we have. He is drawing your sons to His bosom as we speak and I have faith that they will both become the God-fearing men you raised them to be. Don't be hard on yourself about raising them. Although all parents make mistakes, I truly believe that Jesus is right there with every one of our children to pick up the pieces and "supplement" or "fertilize" the biblical principles that parents teach their children.
Anyway, here is another tip for your garden...fish emulsion. WOW, it's all natural fish product in a bottle, that you can find at Walmart. Plants will just explode when you use that stuff.
I love ya Sista and can't wait to see ya on Wednesday!
J-Girl
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