The gardening bug first bit me while watching the BBC's Gardener's World with the its easy-going and sometimes frumpy host, Monty Don. The program is slow-paced, rather unscripted, and full of normal people growing normal gardens. I appreciate the shows lack of glamor and perfection. During COVID the program began featuring homemade movies of people showing off their backyard gardens. These people have imperfect teeth, un-landscaped planters, and an occasional dead plant in the background.
I watched these clips and thought, hey I can do that! So off I went to kill some plants on my own. And I have! Yes, some survived too. Actually, most of them have. The plants that survived each have a story. Some were given to me by people who love me; some were picked up free on the side of the road; others volunteered in my gardens; and still others were resurrected species I saved through no cleverness of my own. I'm quickly learning which plants can survive my style of care.
Gardener's World has not only inspired me, but offered me a few tips that struck me as having multiple meanings. I’m sure the presenters on Gardener’s World didn’t mean to speak in riddles and spiritual analogies, but perhaps this is one of those cases where if someone has the ear to see the wisdom, he hears it. So behold, a few analogies and their explannations:
1) ”When you move a rose, don't expect it to do anything dramatic for a year or two. It needs time to re-establish its roots." The same is true for humans when they move house or suffer a loss or have a new baby. Don’t expect production for some time. We need time to get used to our new situation and surroundings.
2) "As they start to develop their first leaves, it's time to prune them and the harder you cut them, the more vigorous the new growth will be. And it's the new growth that has the brightest bark." Pruning is such an indeal analogy for cutting back excess in our lives. Sometimes, we do this ourselves, such as when we downsize or say no to over-committing ourselves. Sometimes, the pruning is done to us by the Lord through unexpected and often painful deductions from our lives: the loss of life or a house, the loss of a job or friend. If we believe that God is over all and works through all things, then we can know that even in life’s reductions, God is preparing us to grow brighter and more gloriously for his kingdom.
3) "Mix into your potting mix a shovel full of the soil where you'll eventually plant out the plant so that the little plant gets used to the fungi and micro-organisms that the plant is going to start a relationship with. This enables the roots to grow away from the plant much quicker when you transplant it. Otherwise the roots are timid and hesitate and that's when the slugs get it." This advice has plenty of wisdom for helping children prepare for the real world, but it also can be an analogy for what our Creator God does to prepare us for Heaven. God is trying to establish a relationship with us and him prior to our eternity with him so that when the time comes to transplant our lives to Heaven, we are ready for it.
4) And last but not least: "Organic gardening is less tidy and takes more time." Try substituting “organic gardening” with “walking by the spirit,” and isn’t that the truth? It’s easy to pretend to be patient or loving or courageous, but it’s much harder to actually be patient and loving and courageous. To produce this kind of character, our hearts have to indeed be organic and not robotic. They must be living, breathing, beating hearts fully integrating our emotions, mind, and will altogether. And only Jesus’ spirit living in us can order our hearts to be that sort of heart.
More Gardening posts: Dead Plants in the Background, Volunteers, Little Annoyances, My Son Decapitated My Iris
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