This spring, we did something new; planted a small garden. The Grandparents were kind enough to share a portion of their backyard with us so we could execute this fun project. GrandMa purchased all the seedlings, as well as child sized gardening tools including gloves, shovels, hoes and watering cans. She even got us some topsoil and manure of which the children said it smelled yucky.
And so it began. We tilled and weeded the land first. And when I say we, I mean my husband because the children and I announced exhaustion after a whole ten minutes. Anyway, after weeding and tilling came the planting. We dug holes in the ground, stuffed the holes with top soil and manure and planted our tomatoes, peppers, kale, beans, pumpkin and lettuce in rich soils, then showered them with sufficient fresh water, doing our best to give them the greatest odds at flourishing.
PC: Rachel Matembe
This got me thinking about the parable of the sower. Jesus tells His followers this parable in Matthew 13. Later on, the disciples ask Jesus for clarification and Jesus explains this parable to them. He says the seed is the message about the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 13:18-23 “Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the evil one the devil comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”
As we prepared our soil to make it a suitable place to plant our seedlings, I could not help but reflect on the status of the soil of my heart. Have I asked God to weed it and to remove all the things that choke up God’s Word, making it of no effect in my life? Weeds like worry, greed, anxiety and a misguided focus on the world and its trends instead of God and His immovable consistent faithful Word?
PC: Rachel Matembe
Have I been diligent to develop a strength of character to be led by faith and not by sight, so that when emotions wear off and I don’t feel like doing the will of God, I do it anyway? Choosing to trust God over my flesh and its feelings or lack there of?
And lastly, when the Word of God is preached to me and when I read it for myself, do I take the time to mediate on it, going over it again and again so it does not just remain on the surface but sinks deep into my very core as I internalize and memorize God’s Word?
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
We quickly realized that this gardening project required more work than we had initially anticipated. In the dry summer months, it needed way more watering than it did in the rainy spring. And because it had rich fertile soils, it wasn’t just our plants that were flouring but the weeds too. This meant that we needed to keep checking for and removing the weeds.
PC: Rachel Matembe
It is the same in our Christian walk. We need to constantly check for and remove weeds that are creeping up in the soils of our hearts. Things like envy, pride, jealousy, compromise, fear, unforgiveness, laziness, anger, unbelief in God’s Word, all these weeds need to be prayerfully uprooted, removed and thrown out.
We need to constantly water the soils of our heart with prayer, more of God’s Word, thanksgiving, faith, fellowship and all the things that cause the Word of God to flourish in our hearts and lives.
Then finally came the time we had all been waiting for. The harvest! Oh the joy of harvesting the fruit of your labor. The children were overjoyed and thrilled to be picking tomatoes they had planted, watered and weeded. Watching their plants bud and flower and finally seeing the fruit turn from green to deep red. They learnt which leaves of kale to pluck and how to do it in way that would encourage even more leaves to grow. They helped de-stem and chop the kale and watched me sauté it with great anticipation. They told anyone who would listen how the night before they ate some kale and tomatoes that they had planted and harvested themselves. And they received a great well done from their parents and Grandparents who were all so proud of their diligence in tending their little garden.
PC: Rachel Matembe
PC: Rachel Matembe
PC: Rachel Matembe
PC: Rachel Matembe
The fruit that shows up in your life as a result of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus, dwelling in you and leading you is that you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23.
The fruit of meditating on God’s Word and being careful to do what it says is that you will make your way prosperous, and you will have good success. Josua 1:8.
May you tend what has been entrusted to you by God through His Word with great care, and may you bear much fruit, reap a bountiful harvest and hear the words; well done my good and faithful servant!
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