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We Planted a Garden

This year we planted a vegetable garden.
 
I know many in our church have been doing this for years, but we are novices. We have planted a few things in raised beds and containers over the year but this year we have a tilled-up-earth-with-plants-in-the-ground garden. Tiny spouts of corn, beans, tomatoes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons, tomatoes, okra, peppers and more tomatoes are visible through the window in our living room.
 
For those who don’t know, two years ago we renovated and moved into my grandparents’ house. Growing up, I walked with Papaw Underwood through his garden. He had rows of tomatoes and every vegetable you can imagine. Fruit trees and muscadine vines spread out in any available spot. Basically every portion of a one-acre section had something growing and being tended by Papaw.
 
He measured his garden in rows; we measure ours by plants. Papaw’s garden was almost an acre; ours is just a few square feet. He had too many plants to count. Teri Lynne and I can easily count ours by combining our two sets of hands. As a kid I thought his garden was amazing; now, as an adult I think it sure is a lot of work for a few plants.
 
And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  Isaiah 58:11 ESV (emphasis added)
 
God’s desire is for us to be like a well-watered garden, a spring of water.
 
Ask yourself this: Do I view my walk with God as a lot of work or do I see an endless garden of opportunities?
 
One thing I’ve learned about a garden is the gardener does all the work. The garden just has to grow. The tomato plant doesn’t work the soil, remove the rocks, weed, or feed. The tomato plant simply is. And when the gardener does the work of gardening, then the garden can grow. 
 
We are the garden & God is the gardener. It’s important we don’t get our roles reversed. When we do, burnout, stress, and discontentment become our reality. But when we trust Him to do the work in us, we produce the fruit He desires for us.
 
As you move through your day, be mindful to take care of yourself—not selfishly or in neglect of your responsibilities—but with gratitude and anticipation for the work God is doing in you. Be excited about what He is producing and be faithful to time with Him.

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