Gardening with God

The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the Good News, and then produces a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.

- Matthew 13:23

I am a terrible gardener.

My grandpa tried to teach me, but alas, I killed every plant I went near. Even my childhood neighbors stopped asking me to water their plants when they were away because the plants never survived their vacations.

It wasn't the plants' fault, or the seeds, or the soil they were in; it was mine. I didn't tend them well. I didn't give them the love, attanetion, and care they needed to fluorish.

Sometimes, we don't tend our faith well either.

God is busy planting seeds in our hearts, and here we are neglecting them.

The good news is, God is the ultimate gardener and will tend the garden of our hearts forever, palnting seeds within us, knowing some won't ever take root, but doing it anyway because God believes in us. Just like a farmer has faith that the seeds she plants will create a great harvest, so does God have faith in us.

My friend, you could neglect those seeds God plants in your heart forever and God would still find a way to make a garden grow.

But how much more beautiful and bountiful would that garden be if you tended it together?

What you focus on and pay attention to grows. This week, spend time focusing on God. It doesn't have to be drastic; you don't have to read a whole book of the Bible every night. Just spend a little time each day, either in prayer, reading, meditating, taking a few moments while sipping your morning coffee to name a gratitude or two. Or just notice the world around you. As Miss Celie says in The Color Purple, "I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field somehwere and don't notice."

Pay attention this week. Notice God. Name a gratitude or two. Let it be simple. Just like tending a garden; it doesn't need to be complex; just water it here and there, smell the flowers, and let it grow.