“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1
What a leap of faith, this buying packages of vegetable seeds.
I mean – not too long ago, the soil was frozen solid. We have had an unusually cool spring, with temperatures dropping below the freezing mark every single night. Perennials are slowly starting to stick up a tentative shoot, rather like the shy kid in class raising her hand when she’s not too sure she wants to answer the teacher’s question.
Slow. Going.
We are nowhere near eating carrots or cabbages or making salsa or pickling those cute mini cukes.
But we gardeners are a pretty optimistic crew. We know after years of experience, after all, that buying the seeds is a green investment.
Yes, we are aware that some of those seeds will be plucked unceremoniously out of their rows by pesky birds. We’ve been shafted by planting too early or too late. We’ve battled cutworms, flea beetles, and cabbage loopers. Our plants have been sun scalded, too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold. Deer and rabbits have eaten their fair share. We’ve dealt with high winds, hail, storms, drought, early and late frosts, powdery mildew and tomato blight.
We’ve really seen it all.
Yet here we are, planting more seeds.
You’d think we’d have given up by now. Tossed in the trowel. (See what I did there?) Hung up the garden gloves and just bought organic at the grocery store.
But somehow – we still believe. We still see green at the end of the garden tunnel. We know the effort and investment it will be to tend the crops all summer.
So here we are.
Again.
For the joy of growing our own food.
There’s a sense of accomplishment, an awe, a pride of ownership involved that somehow makes all the hassles worthwhile.
And if not worthwhile, at least we can chalk it all up to experience and try again next year.
Which brings me to the spiritual lesson here.
It’s a green investment, to plant seeds of faith and care for them and watch them grow, whether they are in your own heart’s garden, or someone else’s. It’s an act of audacious faith to invest in your spiritual self.
And here’s the thing.
You have to expect ‘bugs’ to snatch away what you plant, ‘frosts’ to damage tender growth, ‘storms’ to smash and claw at what you planted.
It’s just the law of planting.
But you also need to hold onto the delectable truth that there will be a harvest, if you don’t give up. Before you even see results, you have to understand in a deeply intuitive level that there will be development, and that beautiful things will come of all your labours.
As the gardener, so the teacher.
I need to believe that the results are worth labouring over – that the little who is difficult to love needs to be unconditionally loved and learn how to be loveable. That the little who can’t read needs to be championed for her ability to connect others. That the little who lacks focus can be taught to chunk tasks into manageable bits. That at the end of the day, nurturing their hearts and attitudes is more important than looking at their test scores.
I need to believe by faith that the days that are hard and discouraging are working resilience and patience and faith in me.
What are you investing in?
Who are you investing in?
Look to the garden for some inspiration, some comfort, some encouragement. Remember the patience of the one who sees salsa when she plants a tomato, and pie when she plants a pumpkin.
Plant in faith and make a green investment in yourself and others with me??
Father, we are the ‘microwave generation’ , and we want quick solutions to complex problems. Remind us to slow down, to take the time to make the right kinds of investments in ourselves and others by faith. Give us a vision of what we could see grow as we deal with the frustrations of the planting. Amen.
Growing in Grace 