I planted a vegetable garden this year. It is interesting the lessons I learned and how they apply to my spiritual life.
Water is essential for things to grow. It was very hot and dry this summer here in Kansas. Daily watering was necessary and even then it wasn’t enough for some of the plants. When it rained the plants always did better than when I watered them by hand.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.
Jesus always waters us best like the rain waters the garden.
Weeds will come up everywhere and keep coming back no matter how much you pull them up. It was amazing to me that no matter how hot and dry it was, the weeds always grew better than the vegetables.
We can never get rid of the weeds of sin on our own. Only God can uproot them out of our lives. They will come up over and over especially when we are the driest and least watered.
John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Sometimes seeds get planted where you didn’t intend on it. In the Spring, I planted bean, carrot, watermelon, cucumber and cantaloupe seeds. It was a breezy day and the seed packets blew around on the patio. A while later, I had carrots growing in the strawberry bed where I did not intentionally plant them. Yet I am looking forward to how good those carrots God saw fit to plant for me will taste!
Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God
Jesus is the Living Word. As Christians He is in each of our hearts. We will sow Him wherever we go as He shines in our life. He will grow seeds even where you did not think to sow them.
Sometimes the plants you grow, don’t always survive to produce fruit. I had beautiful yellow squash plants. They had huge flowers, each time fruit came on from the flowers, they withered and shriveled up. I think we may have gotten two tiny (I mean really tiny) squash off the plants. One day I came outside and the plant was withered and no amount of watering helped it. Some insect had infected it and it died.
John 15: 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
I pray that you and I will be fruitful for Him.
Taking a plant and transplanting it to a new place I want it to grow isn’t always a good thing. When I planted a new raspberry vine, I wasn’t sure where I wanted it to ultimately be. Later on in the summertime, I had decided so I dug it up and moved it. I watered it faithfully and still it withered and died. I am hoping it will come back next season, but can’t be sure til then.
God needs to be the one in charge of moving people He has planted. We can’t be the ones to decide for them and take over. We come alongside of them and pray for them and let Him move them to where He wants them to grow and be fruitful for Him.
These are just a few of the things I learned and I pray that they will be of some benefit for you in your own walk with the Lord!
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