Gardens.  I was thinking today of how those are perceived by other people.  Some have very elaborate gardens with floral and bushes, ferns and vines, well thought out and planned, with paths and areas where a person can sit meditating and enjoying the garden.

Others have just a vegetable garden where every part is filled with edible produce to be eaten fresh and/or preserved for the winter.  Others combine both flowers and vegetables in their garden, as does Carla and her mother before her.

Gardening can be hard and tedious work.  With the weather and the animals that also enjoy the taste of the plants, there is always a struggle to get out of the garden enough produce to make it worth the effort.  But for those that garden whether out of necessity or a hobby, there is a sense of rightness about it, of being grounded on a solid foundation.  Gardening is real, it gives one great pleasure to watch plants grow.

Some have small gardens, some have container gardens where the plants are in pots, and others have large gardens.  There is something about getting ones hands in the soil, getting them dirty, feeling the grit and smelling the fresh smell of rich dirt that strikes deep into the heart.  There is a connection with the earth and there is a connection with God.  There is a feeling that all is right in the world.

For years, every Sunday when the flowers were in bloom, Carla provided arrangements for our church and at least one other.  It was a labor of love of both the flowers and the Lord.  It helped make the sanctuary a prettier place.

I remember one of our dear old saints coming up to Carla after several years of her work.  He said, I always thought that gardens should be just vegetables, flowers had no place in a garden, they just took up space.  But after seeing what you have done with them, I understand that God does like the beauty of the flowers.

It won’t be long before we put the garden to bed.  I have not been able to help Carla as much this year and many weeds have come to grow in it.  The birds enjoy the seeds; but between the natural reseeding and the help of bird droppings, next year will be a challenge.  Unfortunately the deer find the fruit more appetizing than the weeds; they don’t do any eating of that greenery.

Still and all, we have enjoyed the harvest that God has produced for us, as well as sharing that harvest with others. 

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Luke 12:16-21   And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

¹⁸ And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

²⁰ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

²¹ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

There are so many verses that tell us that we have no promise of tomorrow.  There are also many that tell us that God provides for us.

The Lord’s prayer includes, ‘give us this day our daily bread.’

Exodus 13:35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

To be honest these verses always give me pause to think.  Our family cans food for winter, we have meat in the freezer so we have meat in the winter.  Savings to purchase things in the future.  Are we going against the Word of God by so doing?

We know God takes care of His people.  There are many verses like those above that establish His concern for not only our spiritual welfare, but our health. 

He took care of the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, he fed them, their clothing and sandals did not wear out.  They were wholly in His care.

Once they settled into the Promised Land, though, they grew their own food.

There has always been harvests where the food must be preserved, and that was part of the responsibility God gave to Adam.

Genesis 3:23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

We also know when the harvest is ready we want to make the most of it and preserve it for when there is no longer fresh produce to eat.  To not do so is to waste the produce.  While it can be given away, and we do, there is always more than can be eaten fresh and so not to waste it we preserve it.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

I believe, there is the key to our processing food for future use.  It wasn’t the fact that the man had saved up food for future use, it was the fact that he thought it was his doing.  He didn’t give credit to God for the blessings given him.  There was no sharing of his wealth.  All he could think about was how he had to build new barns to hold it and how wonderful it was he was so wealthy.

There was a pride of ownership as if he and he alone was responsible for the multitude of food.  His heart was focused on him, not on God. 

It can be a serious problem for us.  We come to think of the money we receive from our jobs or other means is a direct result of our labor, alone.  While our talents and abilities do give us an opportunity to work and make a living, those talents and abilities are gifts from God.  When we forget that, we are in peril for our spiritual well-being.

God gives us the means to purchase or to produce food.  Carla has a large garden.  Our family utilizes the produce from the garden both as fresh and later when the garden is bare, we eat the produce we preserved.  However, we also recognize that these are gifts from God.

We thank Him for His grace and goodness for these items.  We know that by freezing, canning, or drying these things we save money and we have food for the winter; and the same is true of those who preserve produce from our garden, whether family or friends.

We purchase meat on sale, or preferably get our meat from our son (so we know it was raised in a healthy environment) and we freeze it for future use – thus saving money.  These are not bad things – we are recognizing that the funds used to purchase these things are gifts from God; and we are thankful for Him for those gifts.

We make plans for gardens, tilling the soil has to be done at the proper time, when and where things are to be planted must be planned.  There is much planning, in one way or another, in many parts of our lives; I do not think God is opposed to that.

What He is opposed to is our leaving Him out of our plans and saying we don’t need Him.  Many of us live paycheck to paycheck and we may feel we are struggling to make ends meet, but God can help stretch that money, He can help us with sales and off set bills IF we give to Him and thank Him for His gifts to us.

Every day is a gift from God.  Every breath we take is a gift from Him.  We are not who we are because of who we are, we are who we are because God has given us gifts to be who we are – and we must give Him the credit.

Later, Art :-) 

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again