Spring has always been a time for planting seeds and preparing the soil for gardens. Our family had a vegetable garden and each year we made sure that it was planted by Good Friday. I am not sure if that was just a tradition passed down through the family or if it was tied to the Farmer’s Almanac, but it was what we did each and every year. Gardens and their bounty form a big part of my the summer memories. Cucumber and mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread or tomato sandwiches so juicy that you had to eat them standing over the kitchen sink were a daily occurrence that marked those summer months.

Recently my brother began his days of quarantine by tilling up his side yard to plant an enormous garden. Sports had ended because of Covid-19, so his favorite pastime had come to an abrupt and disappointing halt. He took this time to go back to his roots and be a gardener once again. Growing up, he was constantly outside digging in the dirt and playing with the metal John Deere tractors in our backyard. I remember once he created a mini-farm by our pump house using his toy tractors. He marked off neat rows, planted corn seeds and created an irrigation system for his miniature field. He was in his element then and now, because farming and gardening is in his DNA.

Actually, gardening is in all of our DNA. Genesis 2:15 tells us of Adam’s assignment by the LORD God: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Adam was called to serve the Lord in the garden. Perhaps that is why even those raised in a city with no farming background can get so excited to see a seed they planted and placed on an apartment window ledge produce an actual living plant. You don’t have to have been raised on a farm or in a rural area to become giddy at the sight of a sprout forming from a seed. Every elementary school classroom grows bean seeds each year using plastic sandwich bags and wet paper towels. The children daily watch and record the progress to see the seed coat fall away and the sprout begin to show its beautiful green crown. Why are we so enthusiastic about a tiny sprout? Because it is in us to produce, care for and multiply.

The garden theme begins in Genesis and runs through the Bible all the way to Revelation. We begin in Eden with the first Adam and will end when the true Gardener and second Adam, Jesus, returns to bring us the New Heaven and Earth. We were created to be in a perfect garden. Perhaps our planting and tending now is an effort or longing to be in the perfect garden that awaits us. Many see gardening, pruning, and planting as soothing work. I say it is a longing for what is ahead and a desire to sow Gospel seeds -not just a love of tomato sandwiches and flowers.

If you are taking time during this period of social distancing to get your hands in the dirt, might I suggest you use that time to thank our LORD God for the glimpses of the garden that is to come and ask Him what Gospel seeds He wants you to plant.

Let us not dwell on the current struggles that weigh us down, but look at what is to come and what seeds of hope God desires for us to plant and sow in the midst of our current struggles. You are a gardener, Sweet Sister. You are a gardener of the Gospel. You are called to scatter “seed” and care for it. Who are you reaching right now with the Gospel? The field is ripe for the planting.

Holy and loving God, You are the Creator of all and Your creation is good- very good. In the midst of this time of isolation, frustration, pain and great difficulty, my prayer is that we focus our eyes on what is to come. You are faithful to Your Word and unchanging. Holy Spirit, convict us when we begin to set our eyes on the temporal and allow the chaos and confusion to consume us. Turn our eyes toward You. When we see the summer flowers and produce, remind us that You created us to be in the Garden and You provide for us always. Show us ways to serve You daily during this season and may even the most simplistic acts like phoning a friend turn into opportunities to point others to You. We long to see You face to face in our eternal home. What a glorious day! Thank you in advance for the stories of how this time will cause us to be gardeners sowing hope in the places we now live. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

During an online service recently, we sang a song by Jeremy Camp (There Will Be A Day) that keeps playing in my head and tells of the promise of things to come when we walk side by side with Jesus in our true home and perfect garden.

I try to hold on to this world with everything I have

But I feel the weight of what it brings, and the hurt that tries to grab

The many trials that seem to never end, His word declares this truth,

That we will enter in this rest with wonders anew

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings

That there will be a place with no more suffering

There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears

There will be a day when the burdens of this place,

Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face

But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

I know the journey seems so long

You feel you’re walking on your own