They sit by the back door expectantly, waiting for me to slip them on. Worn out, worn in, scuffed and muddy and comfortable, these are my garden shoes. These shoes are every bit as much a part of my garden as the fencing and the bird netting.

This morning I slipped them on as I headed to the garden. The yard, covered in dew, strewn with grass clippings, muddy with yesterday’s rain, riddled with thorny plants and industrious bees, can be a messy place. Inside my shoes, my feet are dry and clean and safe.

Without these shoes, dedicated to this less than glamorous role in life, either my feet would be in peril, or my fancier shoes would be.

Their appearance in no way diminishes their importance, quite the opposite. It is their worn out, worn in, scruffy, muddy, comfortable countenance that gives them value, makes them perfect for the role of garden shoe.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 2 Corinthians 12:24-25.

Has God assigned you a less than glamorous role in life? Are you worn out, scruffy, and covered in yard debris? Do you feel like an “inferior member?” Haven’t we all felt that way at some point?

Maybe your infant has just thrown up on your one clean shirt, or your mom has wandered down the street in her pajamas looking for the dog that died three years ago. Maybe the dishes have piled up in the sink and toilet backed up in the bathroom. Maybe your boss has trashed your work and told you to start again, again. Maybe your body has failed you, leaving only wishes with no option of action.

You have a very crucial role in the kingdom of God. You are every bit as much a part of God’s garden as the ministers and the missionaries.

In a large house, there are utensils not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary. 2 Timothy 2:20.

And all are valuable. Could you imagine using your silver goblet to measure flour? The silver goblet may be shiny and precious and placed where all can see, but the plastic measuring cup is far more useful, more functional, more necessary, more important to daily life.

I wouldn’t wear my garden shoes to a ladies’ luncheon, but I depend on them.

And Jesus tells us that God values the less glamorous servants highly.

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Mark 9:35. (Also Matthew 20:26, Luke 22:26.)

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy Kingdom of Heaven, God will give my garden shoes the place of honor.

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy kingdom of Heaven, God will give the parent, the caregiver, the housekeeper, the worker, and the invalid seats of honor.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16. (Also Matthew 19:30.)

So, if you are feeling like a worn-out pair of garden shoes today, take heart. If we are following Jesus, He will give us the work He needs us to do, glamorous or not. His Spirit within us will make us “dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21.)

My garden shoes wait patiently for me to slip them on. Just a little walk out to the garden, around and through it, then back inside. Job done; they rest. How happy these shoes make me, doing their little job so well. I do not see their age, their misshapen body, their dirty exterior covered in yard debris; I see their faithful, useful, service.

Well done, good and faithful servant, You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:21.

Betsy

My garden is rather feral now. I am not watering it or weeding it or tending to it. Nor have I pulled up my plants and prepared for winter. My plants are in recess, a time of unstructured play. My pepper plants seem quite happy about this. Innately able to withstand hotter, drier temperatures, they seem to revel in the occasional rain and cooler nights.

I planted my peppers at the same time I planted my cucumbers and tomatoes. The cucumbers plants have been dead for many weeks. One lone tomato plant is hanging on, still producing, but all the rest are just brown stalks.

But these peppers, these proud elderly denizens of my garden still declare that God is not done yet!

Now it him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and to Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.

I confess that I find it difficult to move this concept from my head to my heart. My head says God is capable of anything and everything. My heart says keep my expectations low to minimize disappointment.

Faith tells me that whatever God does in my life He does with the purpose of bringing me to a closer relationship with Him, whether it aligns with my expectations and desires or not.

And being able to have a close personal relationship with the creator of the universe is a truly amazing thing! He spoke our planet and all life on it into existence; He spoke through His prophets, His angels, and His Son; and He speaks through His Spirit today. He called life into existence, and He calls me by name. Why be disappointed if my puny plans don’t work out the way I had imagined? He is able to accomplish far more, abundantly far more.

Watching these peppers ripen in mid-October boosts my faith, and makes me yearn for longer-living plants, bushes, or trees even. Wouldn’t it be nice if my plants didn’t die and could regrow on their own next year? I love the fruit these annual plants bear, but I long for hardier, more deeply rooted vegetation. I see the allure of apple groves and pecan stands, blueberry bushes and fig plants.

To grow these plants takes a bigger commitment than my summer garden: more space, more time, more patience. Sometimes I find it difficult to wait two months for fruit; could I wait five years? If I am that impatient with my garden, am I that impatient with God?

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but it patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to some to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.

If I were to plant a pear tree today, there is a good chance that I would be unable to pick its fruit when it came in 5 years. Then again, the only way I can have a tree bearing pears in five years is to plant it today. Perhaps the fruit would be for someone else to harvest.

I hope that I am not a shallow plant, short-lived and easily uprooted. I hope that I have put down deep roots, found hidden streams of water, and bear eternal fruit. But my garden is full of short-lived shallow plants, which bear wonderful fruit, feeding myself, my friends, and the animals. Perhaps God’s garden needs all of them, all of us.

Perhaps, if I am rooted in God, He will provide fruit long after I expect Him to, even into late October, even after I am able to harvest it.

… If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, … the Lord will guide you continually, … and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:8-11.

Betsy

I went out to the garden this morning to pull up the cucumber supports. It had rained in the past few days, and I thought they would pull up easily. Nope.

Dead vines were holding them to the ground. Weed roots wrapped around their bases. I could not simply pull them out of the ground. Back and forth I pushed the cages; pulled some up on the right, then on the left; wiggled it around some more; yanked on them with what little brute strength I have. Good grief!

Stick with it, Betsy, you can get them out. With a little self-encouragement, I persevered and got the cages out.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance. Hebrews 12:1.

Sometimes, this is easier said than done, even if we are only talking about tomato cages and cucumber supports. Those support cages had spent the last 5 months living in that space. The desired cucumbers and the unwanted weeds had adapted to the cages’ presence and created a little home. Even though the weather had shifted, and the cucumbers had passed, those established connections were difficult to sever.

I have a deer head in my den, and one in my garage. I have never hunted. These were my late husband Nick’s deer. He was quite proud of them. At this point, I have adapted to them being there; they are just part of my home. Even though the weather had shifted, and he had passed, those established connections are difficult to sever.

Lay aside every weight.

Grief is a blanket that I sometimes wrap around myself. It is comforting and warm and smells deliciously of happy times. But it can be heavy on my shoulders. Next week would have been (will be?) our wedding anniversary. Putting aside the weight of grief is not something I can do quickly. I don’t even think I should do it quickly. Laying aside weights can take effort and energy and struggle, just like pulling those cucumber supports.

I didn’t pull all the tomato cages today. I still have two surviving tomato plants. Pulling up the cucumber supports took all the energy I had for the task. It was enough for today.

And it got me outside.

Between the garden and the lake, I spend a lot of my summer outside. As the garden needs less attention and lower temperatures discourage boating, I find myself indoors more. College and professional football entice me to stay on the couch. But the garden still needs my attention, at least until it sleeps for the winter.

And this is a gorgeous time of year to be outside. Cooler temperatures make work less draining. Bright blue skies lighten my mood; falling leaves fill the air with their earthy scent. Geese call out their presence as they fly in formation. Tinges of orange and yellow and red are visible on the trees.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6:3.

I am incredibly grateful that the most arduous tasks of gardening, the establishment of the garden and its demolition, take place in the most beautiful seasons of the year, Spring and Autumn. It’s as if God is rewarding these less glorious gardening tasks with a beautiful space in which to do them. And isn’t that often the way with God? As I go about the more mundane chores in my life, God often rewards me with unexpected joys and beauties, if I will look up and see them.

So, as I am struggling with the cucumber supports, wrestling them out of the ground, freeing them from their clinging vines, the geese call for my attention. The blue sky and wispy white clouds dazzle me. The breeze blows orange and brown leaves to my feet from a nearby tree. I can almost smell the crispness in the air.

If I had been able to pull the supports easily, I may have missed this beautiful gift from God. If I had decided the task was too hard and refused to try, I may have missed this gorgeous day.

Betsy

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot recently about no-till gardening. The theory is that when you till up all the weed roots, you are also disturbing the good micro ecosystems in the soil, so gardens are “healthier” if you can plant into untilled soil.  I am not sure I buy this line of thinking, but I have not stopped weeds by my previous efforts, so why not give it a try?

Usually, by this time of year I have pulled up the plants, taken down the fence, stowed the landscape timbers, and let the mowers turn my weedy garden back into yard.

This year I am trying something new – the no-till approach. The immediate benefit of this approach is that I do not need to take down my fence or remove the timbers. Much less effort! I also have the joy of cherry tomatoes and yellow tomatoes still growing on my two remaining tomato plants. I would have already pulled them up by this time last year.

The downside of this approach is looking out my window at knee high weeds filling my garden space!

I know that if I can put up with the weeds for a month or two more, these weeds will die on their own, but I am finding that difficult to do.

The plan is to pull the weeds and dead plants and lay them on the garden soil, cover all of it with cardboard to prevent regrowth, and weigh it down with a little mulch. Come spring, I can either remove the cardboard to plant, or cut out just as much space in the cardboard as the plants need.

Since I am hoping to plant garlic next month, I start with the little area of the garden I have set aside for garlic. (Really, how much garlic does one person need?)

Ripping out the healthy weeds strains my arm muscles and challenges my arthritic wrist, but this is a small space. Within 20 minutes, I have pulled all the weeds and spread them across the barren soil. Under the cardboard they should return their nutrients to the earth.

We shall see. If this no-till approach doesn’t work, I can always till the following year.

God gives me the opportunity to try new things in my relationship with Him as well. Traditionally, I have chosen Lent as my “try something new” time. 7 weeks. Certainly, I can do without something, or add something, or change things up for 7 weeks. But I don’t have to wait until Lent, just like I don’t have to wait for my weeds to die. Sometimes, I want to change things up now because I am tired of looking at the weeds.

The Bible paints a beautiful picture of what our live could be, filled with God’s Spirit, bearing His fruit, overflowing with love and grace for all mankind. But when I look at my life, I often see a lot of weeds, worldly concerns, unkind thoughts.

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:4-7.

That is a beautiful garden! Since that really doesn’t describe me very well, I may need to try a new way to foster God’s transformation of me, and the growth of His fruit.

Maybe a new Bible study or small group; maybe more quiet time and meditative prayer; maybe a different Bible translation or a study Bible. Perhaps less time watching mindless TV? Perhaps I just need to be more conscious of my thoughts.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worth of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8-9.

Such thoughts could be a marvelous weed barrier and maybe a no-till solution. Keeping my mind on such beautiful thoughts would definitely be worth trying!

Betsy