Garden Contentment

Spring is almost here. Where I live we are in our 2nd to 3rd “spring”. Our weather loves to throw us for a loop and tease us with warm weather for a weekend and then hit us with a snowstorm. This is the sole reason why we can’t start planting outdoors until close to Memorial Day weekend. It is quite sad for the novice gardener who is so excited to get out into the garden.

Over the years I have learned some things when it comes to starting a garden, the main one was: don’t assume new plants are hardy enough to withstand harsh temperatures. My first year my plants did not survive. To this day I am still learning new tricks and traits on making a garden grow. The one thing that is a sure thing, weeds don’t need to be planted, they will just grow on their own. By definition though a weed is any plant that you don’t want in your garden.

This last year I thought I had it all figured out. I purchased raised garden boxes and went to the local garden store to purchase soil that I could grow fruits and veggies in. I bought plants from people in the area that had already acclimated the plants to the outdoors (since I have no desire to start plants from seed, due to my inability to make them grow), and I asked for advice on how to keep these plants alive. Then I learned that the advice I asked was partially good advice. The soil I purchased didn’t allow any aeration so when I put in the healthy happy plants they struggled to gain a hold in the soil. Unfortunately it took the whole growing season to realized this, but with some failure comes growth. Near the end of summer I came to the conclusion that no amount of watering could aerate the soil. What did grow? Weeds. Granted not in the raised beds but in the soil around the beds.

These plants had been growing in the area until the time that I decided that I needed to remove them for the beds I wanted to install. They flourished in the soil they had available, but I didn’t want them to be there any more. I wanted something that I felt would be better, something that would help me be better. I wanted to remove what I saw as bad so that I could grow something good. Funny how this is also life. Weeds will always be in a garden. Discontentment will always be in our lives. If we want a garden to grow what we choose, we have to work at removing the weeds, fertilizing the soil and creating an area in which the wanted plants will thrive. It takes work to be content.

I want to be content in my life. I don’t want to want things, or to covet what others have. I want to live a life that is pleasing to God, but it takes work. Paul in Philippians talks about being able to live knowing what it felt to be poor as well as prosperous. He knew both ends of the spectrum and he found that being content with what God gave him was the best thing he could do. Paul’s garden had weeds but over his life he worked at tending his soil and removing the bad from it. The plants that he grew nourished so many people. Isn’t that the point of a garden? Even a garden of flowers nourishes the soul.

What kind of garden would you grow? Would you let the weeds overtake the plants that were purposely planted? Would you make sure the soil could support healthy growth? Would you take the time to tend to your garden? If you would do this for a garden, would you not do it for your life? Until next time:

Your mind will always believe everything you tell it. Feed it faith. Feed it truth. Feed it with love.

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