Ed, my neighbor next door, is a little ticked off at me again. "You were gone three weeks wasting time and money on a vacation to Ottawa and you get back to a garden full of produce," Ed beefed.
When Ed saw us arrive home, he informed me I may as well forget about my garden as the birds had been feasting on my cherries and raspberries. He warned me that the weeds are as tall as the garden plants. I told Ed that I was sure it was all true, but I would have more than enough anyway. Ed said that those who go away cannot expect much from the garden at home and it serves them right.
"Gardens are like neighbors," I told Ed, "they have a mind and a will of their own. The gardener has to let the garden do its own thing and respect what it gives. I can weed it, water it, and encourage it with fertilizer, but ninety percent of its success has nothing to do with me, whether I'm present or absent."
"Talk is cheap," Ed said, "you'll be going to the grocery store not the garden."
"I could be, but if I have a pail of something I'll let you see it," I offered.
"You won't get half a pail," replied Ed, "but show me that too because that isn't going to happen."
The birds may have had a nonstop feed and the weeds were way too tall and plentiful, but Ed had to acknowledge half a pail of cherries, two pails of raspberries, and a pail each of beans and peas. I picked part pails of tumbler tomatoes, goose berries, red currants, beets and lettuce which has Ed ticked off at me. Ed thinks I don't deserve the great produce I'm getting from my garden.
Ed is right. I don't deserve it. When a person gardens, they find some years there is a great amount of harvest and some years very little. On any given year, some vegetables flourish and some don't.
There are no guarantees of a harvest, ever. I plant my garden in trust. I trust that I will get a harvest and it will be little, or great, or none. The garden is about the soil, the seeds, the weather ninety percent, and the gardener about ten percent. It is not what I deserve as a gardener, but what is given beyond my control. If I garden, I will get a return for my efforts in gardening, but the return is not what I can dictate.
Many don't want to invest their trust in God because there is no guarantee of great blessings instantly. What we get from God is beyond our control. When we pray God answers with yes, no, or not now. People want a sure thing; they want to be able to control and see the results that they want right away. Many want to control the future with what they do today. The future and God cannot be controlled.
When we trust in God, we get more than we deserve. We get a gift of love in His Son, Jesus Christ, which is guaranteed to be enough forever.
