It seems that everyone I know is planting a garden this year.
Even those who have had no interest in gardening before are building raised beds and talking about which variety of tomato grows best around here. My grandparents always had a garden, as did Sara’s dad, so I know a little bit about them. In fact, I think that gardens can remind us of some important spiritual truths.
For example, gardening is all about expectation and anticipation. Those are two of my favourite words these days. When you plant a garden, you do not plant the finished product. Rather, you plant seeds hoping that they will become something fruitful.
Gardening is an investment of time and energy now so that you can reap the rewards later.
The process of sowing and reaping is a constant theme in the word of God. Paul reminded the Corinthian church that, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
When we serve God and others, we are sowing seeds that will yield something good later. It is the hope of something better down the road that changes the way we act today.
The other thing that I have noticed about gardeners is that they are generous with what they have grown. At church, people will often bring baskets of tomatoes, buckets of potatoes and bunches of onions, and give them away because they know that they cannot keep or use it all. If they are not generous with their produce, it will rot and go to waste.
The same principle works in spiritual things. If you do not give away your time, it spoils into boredom. If you do not give away your love, it spoils into selfishness. If you do not give away your possessions, they spoil into greed.
As odd as it sounds, giving your blessings away is the best way to benefit from them. As Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:24).
When you think about it, gardens should teach us something spiritual. After all, we are serving “The Master Gardener” (John 15:1).
