gardening

good gardening

Posted on by Grace Day

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)

Gardening – the world’s oldest profession. (despite what we’ve been told) Adam and Eve were the original gardeners. They were put in charge of The Garden, the Garden of Eden. They were responsible for taking care of God’s creation. No small task. And it’s a responsibility humankind retains to this day.

We see this work of gardening carried out in many ways. Farmers till the soil to produce the crops that feed us all. Some tend orchards and vineyards and others tend animals which give us milk or eggs or meat or even clothing via wool or clothing from plants like cotton or flax. God’s good garden was designed to supply all our needs. We were “to work it and take care of it.” In return, God’s creation, God’s garden, would take care of us.

God’s creation is perfectly designed to meet all our needs.

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

So God created the garden, and then God made us the gardeners.

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’ ” (Genesis 1:27-29)

Our very first job was gardening. Today though, not many of us are garden tenders. We view gardening as more of a hobby than a vocation, (or our original calling) even though nowadays people take classes to become master gardeners and landscaping, landscape architecture, horticulture, greenhouses, farmer’s markets and flower shops are thriving businesses. Maybe gardening is making a comeback?

Both my grandmothers were gardeners. Well, one employed a gardener, one was a gardener. Both their backyards were full of beautiful flowers in every season, except winter of course. Most of these flowers just magically appeared in their season, year after year. As a child, I took the beauty and peace and wonder of their backyards for granted. I was not aware of all the intentional good gardening going on behind the scene, that made these gardens the oases of color and life that they were. I simply enjoyed them.

I tend to do the same thing today with God’s garden, the earth. The earth is filled with the beauty of God’s creation everywhere I look. And even though I and my fellow gardeners (that’s y’all – we have each one been given the task of tending God’s garden) have not always been good gardeners, God’s flowers and plants and trees and mountains and waterfalls and sunsets and seas and marshes full of wildlife and deserts teeming with plant and animal life – all seem to keep on in spite of neglect or mismanagement on our part. Good thing, God, as the Master Gardener, is in charge. I recall His words to Noah after the flood –

“And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. ‘As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ ” (Genesis 8:21-22)

I am thankful that even when I am not the attentive, good gardener God has asked me to be, His garden still grows and produces and provides for us all. God’s perfect design continues to sustain us. A good example of this intricate perfection is photosynthesis. We humans need oxygen to live. We need to get oxygen from the air we breathe. Fortunately for us, all the living, growing, green trees, plants, grass, shrubs etc. give off oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis.

Now photosynthesis is the process taking place in all those living green leaves. It involves sunlight, water, chlorophyll, and another element necessary in order for the plants, trees etc. to grow and to produce food for us to eat. The vital element? Carbon dioxide – CO2. That’s right. All living plant life depends on carbon dioxide to stay alive and to carry out the process of photosynthesis. Fortunately for them, that’s one of the things we humans breathe out – carbon dioxide. What we don’t need – the plants and trees do need. And vice versa. We need what they are getting rid of – oxygen! God’s perfect design in action. (so why all the worry about CO2? I think all green plants need CO2 for photosynthesis, and we need photosynthesis for food production!)

Sunlight is God’s most important gardening tool. It is sunlight that supplies the energy for photosynthesis to take place. That’s why I don’t understand something I read recently about chem trails from jets putting chemicals into our atmosphere (like aluminum) to reflect the sun’s rays away from the earth, supposedly to cool the earth. As a result, crop production is diminished because less sunlight affects photosynthesis, a process that cannot take place without sunlight.

I wonder how this lessening of sunlight affects our bodies’ ability to produce vitamin D, which normally takes place naturally (and for free) when we are exposed to the sun’s light? And what’s the point of all these solar panels if at the same time we are actively working to reduce the amount of sunlight the earth receives? Gardeners are concerned about the toxic chemicals in solar panels, and about the aluminum in the chem trails when it falls to earth and becomes part of our soil, but overall silence seems to prevail on these topics.

Not sure why we think we are better gardeners than the One who created the garden in the first place. The Master Gardener’s design is perfect and it works. Why would we want to interfere with that. I’m grateful the garden is still fruitful despite our neglect or outright harm. The psalmist said this –

“Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way for His steps.” (Psalm 85:11-13)

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” (Psalm 24:1-2)

A friend of mine is the epitome of a good gardener. She cares well for God’s garden and created a space of beauty and peace surrounding her home. It became a refuge for not only birds, bees and other wildlife, but for people as well. We would sit outdoors and enjoy the sanctuary she had created – a sanctuary full of flowers, full of birds, full of color, full of peace and quiet, full of life.

I am thankful there are no wind turbines in our area to intrude upon the peace and beauty of her garden sanctuary. They are loud and their vibrations disrupt life on the ground and in the air. I often wonder why the Audubon Society has remained so silent about the detrimental impact of the wind turbines on all kinds of bird life in myriad locations across the country. When these turbines are located off of our coasts both sea life and bird life are adversely affected. Instead of saving the environment, these turbines are killing wildlife and taking up land space that a good gardener could use for better purposes.

I fear we have not lived up to our charge to tend God’s garden well. We think we know better than the Creator, so we attempt to alter our weather with harmful chemicals. We are to be guarding God’s garden, not destroying it. Our wisdom too often turns out to be only foolishness and futility. Job found this out when he questioned God and God replied to Job with these words –

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone – while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? . . . Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? . . .

Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? . . . Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?” (Job 38:4-39:27)

Those words pretty much put things in perspective. I want to be a good gardener of this beautiful garden called earth. God has put you and me in charge, just as He did Adam and Eve in the beginning in the garden, “to work it and take care of it.”

Heavenly Father, help me to be a good gardener – caring well for Your creation.

sincerely, Grace Day

dandelion wars

Posted on by Grace Day

Yes, I am still battling the dandelions in my yard and they are winning! By this time of year, I would have thought the weather would have joined the battle on my behalf and simply killed all the dandelions with cold temperatures. But we have had mild weather so far this fall, so my grass is still green and my dandelions are thriving. (my front porch flowers are still alive also!) I am happy about the latter but not so thrilled about the former.

My battle strategy of late has been both unconventional and utterly unsuccessful. Perhaps it is time to rethink my current methods of dandelion combat. Of course initially, in the spring I employed the services of a lawn care company. They kill the dandelions with their magic weed killing formula applied strategically and liberally. Although, in retrospect, I did have to request additional treatments this past spring/summer, because the dandelions in my yard staged a comeback or they resurrected from the dead? (whichever seems more plausible) Maybe it’s true that “you can’t keep a good dandelion down”?

Now, if you remember from previous posts, the dandelions’ unexpected return to my front lawn resulted in me receiving very legal sounding letters from my HOA. This caused concern and the need for additional anti-dandelion treatments this summer. So you can imagine my surprise at having to deal with dandelions in my front yard once again, during the months of October and now November. The dandelions have staged yet another comeback or possibly a successful coup! And they appear to be multiplying!

I don’t see the dandelions initially when they are bright yellow because they are low to the ground and hidden by the grass. But then, as if by magic, my lawn is filled with silver spheres of fluff atop long, slender stems. They are actually kind of beautiful against the backdrop of the still green grass. However, I know what those perfect silver balls of fluff represent – seeds that will turn into more dandelions – hundreds of them. Dandelions are definitely dedicated to God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply!”

So my plan of late has been to pick these stems with the silver fluff spheres full of seeds while the spheres of seeds are still intact. Then I carefully deposit said silver seed spheres into the trash. My reasoning is that if I get them before the wind has a chance to blow the fluff balls apart, thus scattering the seeds everywhere, I can prevent the seeds from falling to the ground, germinating and producing exponentially more dandelions.

Every day I execute this battle plan to perfection. I pick and dispose of all visible dandelion silver fluff balls, taking great care not to set loose into the air any of the seeds. This is ironic because as a child one of my favorite activities was blowing apart the dandelion fluff, so I could watch it float away, carried on the wind. Doing this was strangely magical and satisfying simultaneously, because just like birthday candles, one always makes a wish before attempting to blow all the fluff (aka seeds) off the dandelion stem.

While others were wishing upon stars, I was wishing with dandelion fluff and in so doing, I was aiding and abetting the dandelions in their mission to multiply, cover the earth and subdue it. Little did I know that years later, I would find myself fighting against dandelion multiplication, in an effort not to arouse the ire of my HOA. To this end, I persevere in picking dandelions from my lawn before they have a chance to disperse their seeds.

At present, however, this is not a successful strategy. Every day when I arrive home from work, I notice my front lawn again adorned with multiple stems topped with silver spheres of fuzz, even though just the day before I had removed every single one. Not only this, but their numbers seem to be increasing each day, despite my vigilance and persistence. I am losing the dandelion wars big time.

Why isn’t my battle strategy working? Maybe because, as is inevitable, some of the dandelion fluff is blown away before I get the chance to remove the dandelions from my yard. I can’t keep watch twenty-four/seven, so some seeds will succeed in floating away and taking new territory. Realizing I need to be more proactive, I also pick any yellow dandelions I see, so they don’t even have the chance to turn into seed filled fluff. But somehow, there are still plenty of silver fluff balls that appear as if by magic, even though I thought I had picked off all the yellow dandelions before they could go to seed.

Clearly, I am not getting to the root of the problem. (pun intended) My battle strategy to date has not included digging up the roots of the flowers (or weeds as they are more commonly called). Digging up dandelions by their roots is hard work and takes much more time than simply plucking the tops off of the plants. I would have to get down on my knees. I would have to be willing to get my hands dirty. I would need to put in the time and the effort needed to win this dandelion war. Clearly, I am not that committed.

At this point it occurs to me that getting to know my adversary better, would enable me to form a more effective battle strategy. To this end, I have studied my enemy and in the process, have learned some fun facts about dandelions.

Dandelions have really good roots. This is why they survive and even multiply in less than ideal, even adverse conditions that kill other plants. This explains why the dandelions in my yard thrive even while my grass withers in the summer heat. I think dandelions have better, sturdier, stronger roots. And my research proved me correct. Sonya Query, master gardener, says this about dandelions – “They can grow in almost any condition and can regenerate from a little piece of root left behind when weeding.”

Resilient – that’s what dandelions are. Query also says dandelions have long tap roots which are hard to pull out in their entirety. This is why dandelions are so hard to eliminate permanently. Because of how quickly their seeds can spread and how deep their roots can grow, defeating dandelions is definitely a daunting task. It is precisely their deep root that makes them so hard to get rid of. And each dandelion plant can produce up to 20,000 viable seeds which are dispersed by wind over long distances. Dandelions are definitely a formidable foe! No wonder I am losing the war.

BUT – now that I have studied my enemy, the dandelion, I kind of admire and respect my adversary. Why? Well, besides being beautiful (I love their sunny yellow color and their mystical silver fluff ball beauty) they are also strong, tenacious, resilient and adaptable to multiple circumstances and conditions. Dandelions are survivors. Dandelions are tenacious. Just when you think you have them beat, they stage a comeback. Dandelion’s are overcomers.

I want to be more like the dandelions adorning my yard. Just as their roots run deep, I want my faith roots to run deep, deep enough to survive all of life’s storms and changes in circumstance – just as the dandelions survive their constantly changing weather environment. They not only survive, they thrive and multiply because of their deep roots.

How ironic that after learning more about my adversary, the dandelion, I want to be more like my foe. I want my roots to run deep, so deep that I will be steadfast in adversity – so deep that I will remain faithful and even flourish when I find myself in the hostile environments of governments and of cultures and of historical times. I will be like the trees described in Jeremiah –

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Being deep rooted like the dandelions is necessary for the survival of my faith.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

Rooted in Christ, the solid Rock, (now there’s a paradox for roots) – I can withstand life’s storms and furnaces, of which there have been and will be many. Remember, the dandelion will grow back if even a little of its root is left in the soil. So will my faith be preserved through every flood, furnace and tornado of life as long as even a mustard seed remains. And like the dandelions, who Query says “can grow in almost any condition”, my faith can flourish no matter my circumstances. In fact, Paul says –

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Having the roots of my faith in Jesus Christ, that’s the key – just as the dandelions’ deep roots are the key to their survival. It’s like Paul told the Ephesians –

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

“being rooted in love” – God’s infinite, lavish, undeserved, undying, compassionate, merciful, eternal love – love, that’s good soil, the kind of soil in which my roots can run deep like the roots of the dandelions that have taken up residence in my yard, the kind of soil in which my faith can grow strong and produce fruit – just like the dandelions! (who are no longer my adversaries but possibly my new role models)

I guess the dandelion wars are over . . .

sincerely, Grace Day

it was the sunflowers

Posted on by Grace Day

I suspected the sunflowers from the very beginning, and in the end, it turned out to be true, my suspicions proved to be correct – it had been the sunflowers all along. Now sunflowers probably seem like they should be the least likely suspects when any type of wrongdoing or crime occurs. After all, they are so cheerful. They don’t seem capable of deceit or malice of any kind. At least that’s what I’ve always thought, until now. I believed sunflowers to be a trustworthy flower.

But that all changed with tonight’s unexpected mystery drama. It started as an ordinary errand – me running into Meijer to pick up just a few things before heading home. It ended with me at the self-checkout scanner, discovering that I no longer had my credit card in my hand. Ok, that requires some explanation.

I entered the store, car keys and credit card in hand. Normally those two items are in a pocket of whatever I’m wearing at the moment, but my attire was void of pockets and it was just a quick stop, not major grocery shopping. I made my rounds quickly and was headed for self-checkout. At this point I passed the flower/plant area located right across from the checkout and seeing a large selection of beautiful sunflowers there, I decided to treat myself to some sunflowers to brighten my kitchen and keep me company. (sunflowers are supposed to be good company, being known as a friendly flower and all)

So I began pulling out different bunches of sunflowers from the black buckets of water that held them, so as to better compare the blooms and decide which bouquet I wanted to take home. My decision finally made after some brief agonizing over which was the prettiest, the freshest, of all the bunches of sunflowers, I proceeded to the checkout line. There I relaxed, pleased with my impulse purchase, as well as with the speed with which I had navigated my way through the large store, successfully selecting all the items on my list, thereby completing my task. I could cross it off my to-do list. However, my relaxed and self-satisfied state of being was abruptly cut short.

Imagine my shock when I wheeled my cart up to the scanner and discovered only my car keys in my left hand, no credit card! I could not check out. I needed to backtrack, to retrace my steps in order to see where I had dropped my card. Of course, the sunflowers were my first stop, but I did not find my card there. So next I went to produce, specifically the strawberries. There I had had a brief conversation with a stranger, a fellow shopper. We lamented together the lower quality and the higher price of the strawberries currently, as they are not really “in season” anymore.

She and her husband were still in this area as I sped through, and she became aware of my situation. She was very kind and concerned, looking with me in the area where we had stood and talked. Then I was off to continue my reverse route in the store. Not finding my card, I began to worry that it would fall into unscrupulous hands who would then use it to purchase all kinds of things that I could in no way afford. I thought of the melting ice cream in my shopping cart. (priorities?) I thought about checking with the store to see if a good Samaritan had perhaps found my card and turned it in.

Then I came to my senses and made a plan. Leaving my cart at the checkout place in the care of an attendant, I went to my car to get my phone and a different credit card. I called to report my card lost and put a “lock” on it. Then I got back in an even longer line to check out. After checking out, I couldn’t give up the feeling that my card was still somewhere in the store, as yet undiscovered. So I decided to take one last tour of the store in search of my lost card.

This time my search was calmer because my card was already “locked”, no one could use it. I definitely got my steps in as I walked again everywhere I had been previously. You can cover a lot of ground in big stores like Meijer. I’ll never know my step count because I don’t have one of those devices, but I’m guessing it would have been an impressive number if a count were kept. So I’ll count extra steps as an extra blessing for the day.

Then, because my eyes were on the ground, I found a penny! Somehow that’s always a big deal to me. Don’t ask me why, must be a childhood thing. Also, I ran into the kind lady and her husband again, as they were still in the store. I thanked her and assured her that things were taken care of even though I was still searching. This time I went in the order in which I had shopped, instead of the reverse order, which means my very last stop of my very last search, was – you guessed it – the sunflowers.

I scanned the floor and the tables on which the black buckets of water filled with the bouquets of fresh flowers sat. I had looked into the two buckets holding the sunflowers previously, but this time I stuck my hand down into the water among the stalks of the sunflowers. Nothing in the first bucket, BUT – in the second bucket as I felt around, reaching all the way to the bottom of the bucket, I felt it! My credit card! I was right all along. It had slipped out of my hand when I was pulling out sunflowers to examine before deciding which ones I wanted to buy. This was the last thing I did before entering the checkout line.

The sunflowers were harboring, actually hiding my credit card all this time. But they did proffer a peace offering of sorts. When I pulled my credit card out of the water, a packet of that stuff you put in the water to keep your flowers fresh longer, came out with it! The sunflowers I had purchased, didn’t have one of those packets attached, so perhaps this was their attempt at appeasement, their apology for pick pocketing my credit card? (and for melting my ice cream, for causing me stress, panic and worry)

As I write this, the guilty sunflowers have been cut down to size and are sitting in a ball jar on my kitchen table. They certainly are a cheerful, friendly flower but I don’t know if I can ever look at them the same way again. We’ll see how I feel about them in the morning. Right now they remind me of the short-lived panic I experienced when I realized I had lost my credit card. How easily my peace and composure were shattered – until I came to my senses and realized there were readily available solutions to this problem. I was not in danger, no one was hurt.

It was a minor, unexpected inconvenience – a mystery that was rather quickly solved. My Heavenly Father is with me in the deep hurts and tough circumstances of this life. But He also cares about my mundane mystery of the missing credit card – He provided the kindness of a stranger, a penny, extra steps and that stuff for the water to help keep my guilty sunflowers living and lovely longer. (although, if I had not decided last minute to buy sunflowers, none of this would have happened – maybe there’s something to be said for sticking to one’s list with no deviation? – no, what fun would that be?)

I sure was filled with all kinds of worry and panic though, when I first realized my credit card was no longer in my hand but somewhere in the very large, very full of people store. In fact, I was surprised at how quickly I became fearful and anxious. And in this life, there is always something, usually many things, that can make you and me fearful and anxious. But our Heavenly Father does not want us to live full of fear and worry. Jesus told us this –

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

The sunflowers sitting on my kitchen table are God’s “lilies of the field”, clothed in perfect splendor. When I look at my sunflowers, instead of remembering my temporarily misplaced credit card and my accompanying panic and worry – I will enjoy their cheerful beauty and the peace their presence brings me because they proclaim God’s infinite care for all of His creation, including me. God takes care of them. He is taking care of me day by day.

It was the sunflowers who hid my credit card – it is the sunflowers who shout God’s goodness and glory from my kitchen table –

sincerely, Grace Day