How Does Your Garden Grow?

About this time every May, when I was growing up, we would start planting our family garden. We lived out in the country and so the garden was a large one. My father would get the soil ready by running the rototiller over it a few times and breaking up the land. When the time came for planting it was all hands on deck, the whole family had to help out.  

The largest section of the garden was for potatoes since it was the staple vegetable throughout the winter months. Then there were carrots, peas and beans. Tomatoes never seemed to be overly successful because they were more dependent on good weather. The vegetable I liked the least seems to be the most productive, zucchini (aka courgette). From only one small patch the zucchini vines would take over whole sections of the garden and keep producing fruit until the first fall frost.

There is something exciting about watching a garden grow and yield its fruit. It’s a sign of life. It was always amazing to me how from a few dead seeds we were able to have an abundance of vegetables throughout the winter. That’s how life works. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) This is important to remember as we pass through this season of the coronavirus. While things look bleak it is not hopeless. God is at work in our hearts and lives. He has planted seeds that will bear fruit in the months to come. So look after the garden that God has given to you at this time. Watch it carefully because soon you’ll be able to see some little green sprouts popping up from the ground. That’s the first sign of life returning.