Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet
Song of the Gardener
There is something very basic about planting something. It goes way back into our past and it satisfies something that resides very deep in the heart of man. We came from the dust, and we draw life from its bounty. To dig the earth, plant a seed and then eat from what you've planted is about as basic an experience as one can have.
Every Spring the earth calls to me.....For generations past my people were farmers. I followed my dad up and down the rows when I was a child and helped him plant. I still remember his mantra- as he dropped the seed "one for the cut worm, one for the crow--one to rot and one to grow"(He wasn't exactly an optimist)-
To raise a garden, you have to pit yourself against the whims of nature-Will it rain too much or too little? Will the squirrels tear up your baby plants? Will the bugs eat what grows? Are the nutrients in the soil right for what you have planted. Frankly often you have better odds at the casino. But that's okay- there is something cleansing about the process. A peaceful effort. It's good for the soul and once in a while you win. And instead of thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18) there are cucumbers or tomatoes like none that you can buy in the store. There is satisfaction in digging and planting and pulling from the earth what is necessary to live.
I always feel an irresistible pull urge to plant something in the Springtime. I am only two generations removed from the farm, one if you count the fact that even though my dad worked in a refinery his heart was always buried somewhere between the rows of okra and butter beans in his garden.
I haven't been able to have a real garden since I did my little dance with death 2010. Frankly I have given up any hope of ever having my own garden again. I cannot get my body to cooperate with the "ups and downs" needed to properly do what's needed to tend a garden. It makes me sad, but that's okay, I still have the sunshine, and my few little pot-plants and our glorious huge oak tree. Then there is always the smell of the fresh-cut grass when my husband fires up our lawn mower.
I think I am even more grateful and maybe a little more amazed at the miracle of new growth around me. I am more aware that no one can be sure just how many more spring-times they will be able to enjoy. This gig is temporary kids.
But I still need the sunshine and the blue sky, I love to smell the familiar odor of new turned dirt and to watch little plants grow and produce fruit. I have always been happier outside. This is hidden in my DNA and there is really nothing I can do about it. We were drawn from the earth and maintain our lives through earth and sun and water. What I am saying is not mystic new-age but simple science, yet there is something magical about returning to our source.
I don't believe creation is a product of happen-stance. I have to believe that there is purpose and design in everything. I believe there is a master plan and a mysterious benevolent designer who conducts the music of our lives. He has left his fingerprints all over his creation and it is he who tills the ground that makes up the garden of our lives.
Psalm 24:1 tells us that "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein," also Genesis 1:1 says that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." If you doubt intelligent design, go out into a garden in the springtime and watch things grow. The ordered beauty is without any other explanation. The perfect symmetry and well-ordered mathematics of the universe shout intelligent design. God is after all a Master gardener who with his own hand planted man on this good earth. Genesis 2:8 KJV "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."
Every Spring the earth calls to me.....For generations past my people were farmers. I followed my dad up and down the rows when I was a child and helped him plant. I still remember his mantra- as he dropped the seed "one for the cut worm, one for the crow--one to rot and one to grow"(He wasn't exactly an optimist)-
To raise a garden, you have to pit yourself against the whims of nature-Will it rain too much or too little? Will the squirrels tear up your baby plants? Will the bugs eat what grows? Are the nutrients in the soil right for what you have planted. Frankly often you have better odds at the casino. But that's okay- there is something cleansing about the process. A peaceful effort. It's good for the soul and once in a while you win. And instead of thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18) there are cucumbers or tomatoes like none that you can buy in the store. There is satisfaction in digging and planting and pulling from the earth what is necessary to live.
I always feel an irresistible pull urge to plant something in the Springtime. I am only two generations removed from the farm, one if you count the fact that even though my dad worked in a refinery his heart was always buried somewhere between the rows of okra and butter beans in his garden.
I haven't been able to have a real garden since I did my little dance with death 2010. Frankly I have given up any hope of ever having my own garden again. I cannot get my body to cooperate with the "ups and downs" needed to properly do what's needed to tend a garden. It makes me sad, but that's okay, I still have the sunshine, and my few little pot-plants and our glorious huge oak tree. Then there is always the smell of the fresh-cut grass when my husband fires up our lawn mower.
I think I am even more grateful and maybe a little more amazed at the miracle of new growth around me. I am more aware that no one can be sure just how many more spring-times they will be able to enjoy. This gig is temporary kids.
But I still need the sunshine and the blue sky, I love to smell the familiar odor of new turned dirt and to watch little plants grow and produce fruit. I have always been happier outside. This is hidden in my DNA and there is really nothing I can do about it. We were drawn from the earth and maintain our lives through earth and sun and water. What I am saying is not mystic new-age but simple science, yet there is something magical about returning to our source.
I don't believe creation is a product of happen-stance. I have to believe that there is purpose and design in everything. I believe there is a master plan and a mysterious benevolent designer who conducts the music of our lives. He has left his fingerprints all over his creation and it is he who tills the ground that makes up the garden of our lives.
Psalm 24:1 tells us that "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein," also Genesis 1:1 says that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." If you doubt intelligent design, go out into a garden in the springtime and watch things grow. The ordered beauty is without any other explanation. The perfect symmetry and well-ordered mathematics of the universe shout intelligent design. God is after all a Master gardener who with his own hand planted man on this good earth. Genesis 2:8 KJV "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."
Spring is a time for optimism and second chances, the dead dry leaves of autumn and winter are replaced by the lively young buds of may. The dead and decaying remnants of yesterday become the building blocks of tomorrow. Such is life, the mistakes and sorrows of our past should be utilized as nourishment to sustain the new growth they foster in our lives. Frankly they are the compost and fertilizer that help us grow. So many poor souls get so mired down in the past that they miss the fact that these things are necessary to produce growth in our lives.
I used to love to grow tomatoes, but it is necessary to prune off dead or diseased leaves to insure the health of the plant. As the plant gets taller you must break off a few of the lower branches so that more of the plants strength can go into producing fruit. The little plant may not understand that what I am doing will help him to be better at what he was created to be.
This is one of the hardest lessons we have to learn in life, I am still struggling with it myself, we tend to resist the pruning process. We also grieve for the dead, lost things into which we spread our roots. My little tomato plant doesn't cry complain or question, he just submits himself to my will. We're not like that nor can we ever really be, faith and trust is hard sometimes when you are getting your lower branches torn off and trying to put your roots down into yesterday. But we must strive to trust (it gets easier in time I think). We know that the master gardener is wiser than we and we have his promise of an eternal springtime yet to come.
Jeremiah 31:12 KJV tells us "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all..".
---------------- Jireh's Girl
I used to love to grow tomatoes, but it is necessary to prune off dead or diseased leaves to insure the health of the plant. As the plant gets taller you must break off a few of the lower branches so that more of the plants strength can go into producing fruit. The little plant may not understand that what I am doing will help him to be better at what he was created to be.
This is one of the hardest lessons we have to learn in life, I am still struggling with it myself, we tend to resist the pruning process. We also grieve for the dead, lost things into which we spread our roots. My little tomato plant doesn't cry complain or question, he just submits himself to my will. We're not like that nor can we ever really be, faith and trust is hard sometimes when you are getting your lower branches torn off and trying to put your roots down into yesterday. But we must strive to trust (it gets easier in time I think). We know that the master gardener is wiser than we and we have his promise of an eternal springtime yet to come.
Jeremiah 31:12 KJV tells us "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all..".
---------------- Jireh's Girl
This song "The Songs of the Reaper" makes me cry, and when something makes me cry, I share.
Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing.~Albert Laighton
The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams
The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams