God must be trying to tell me something. I am doing my best to succeed at a patio garden, which will include an herb garden since I love to cook. Some seeds have taken off, others are struggling to hold on. I've attempted to pick off all the suckers (the growth shoots just below the fruit) and keep the tomato plants tied up and watered from the bottom. There are just so many things I don't know. There are many things I learn too late. And still, there are things that I don't know, I don't know yet. So I Google. I laughed when I noticed the first two letters of Google are the same as God. Truth is I want to talk to my Dad. He gardened all my life. He taught us as we went. I was 5 to 13 years old. How much attention was I really paying to my Dad about plants? That's right very little. This year is different.
This year is different because i care. This year is different because my Dad isn't here as we approach Fathers Day I miss him dearly. This year my daughter is bringing forth her first "Belly Baby" to grow up with her to big brothers. Things are growing all around me. Times have changed, but growing things is as important today as it was years ago. There are still things we need to learn. We still need to have patience. There is still hard work to do. Then, the Lord allowed me an epiphany. "In the process of growth--there is character formation; and character formation takes time." Now, I think everyone needs to try to garden, at least once. There are things we learn with our hands in the dirt we can't learn any other way. We have got to get in the mess to learn how to get out. Jesus came here to become one of us, to show us how to get out of here. We needed a model. We still do.
So, whether it is growing a garden or bringing forth a child we have to wait. This year I am waiting on both. My patience is being developed in a way I have never had it developed. I know God created both processes. At times like these I can only depend on the creator and maker of both. This time God has my total attention. Why? Because this time I have an investment worthy of all the attention I can muster. The battle to keep a watchful eye on all I am growing takes more attention than I expected. At this age, I am paying attention. I want to share all I learn before I leave this earth. There is a sense of responsibility to what is yet to come. Now, I am ready for that responsibility.
ACTION STEP: Pay attention to what God has to teach us through nature. Heed the instructions of those that know more than we do. The Bible will be our first text book. Prayer will be the way to understand what lies ahead. Go ahead, give yourself the opportunity to plant something, even if a flower in a pot.
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