Garlic

I am planting garlic this year. A friend I visited last summer had some in her garden, a bulb of which she pulled early for me to see. I was mesmerized. Just pull this aromatic, flavorful treat from the ground and use it in supper. I want to grow my own.

Unlike everything else in my garden, I am to plant garlic in the fall. After the worst of the heat; before the worst of the cold. You put it just barely in the ground, cover it with mulch or straw, and let it lie dormant for months. I am not to harvest it until mid or late summer.

In fact, if the garlic sprouts in the spring, I am to snip off the growth so all the nutrients can go to the bulb.

Each garlic clove will grow into a large garlic bulb. At least, that is the plan. Then, come summer, a top plant will grow. When it dies, the garlic is ready to be harvested.

I am intrigued by the garlic’s need to lie dormant in the ground. Obviously, the clove is not completely dormant in the ground, or it could lie on my kitchen table. The dark, dank blanket of nutrient rich soil is interacting with the clove. Though not visible, the clove is gathering what it needs for future growth.

Do we not have times like this in our lives? We may look dormant, but God is infusing us with His nutrient rich soil.

I have often wondered about Jesus in His twenties. When I was in my twenties, I thought I could and would change the world! Master of their domain, fearless, impervious to consequences, there is a reason the military wants 20-year-olds as soldiers. Although Jesus could and did change the world, he apparently spent His twenties as a small-town carpenter, unknown to the wider world. Dormant.

And Paul, before he wrote all those letters, wandered around in Syria. Dormant.

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. Galatians 2:1.

Fourteen years. I may have been tempted to give up my mission.

We often think about rest as something we do at the end of our work. On the seventh day, God rested. But when we wake up refreshed after a good night’s sleep, we realize rest is also something we need before we act.

Sometimes, maybe most times, we need to be at rest before we act. We need to lie dormant in God’s rich soil, letting His Word and His plan infuse our lives, preparing us to do exactly what he needs and wants us to do. This is not wasted time. God is preparing us, just as He is preparing that garlic clove for its growth next summer.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. James 5:7-8.

Our culture has told us that if you are not moving forward, you are falling behind. But not all motion is progress; some is a spinning of the hamster wheel.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127: 2.

Because:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. Psalm 127:1.

Maybe God is calling you to rest for a while, soak up His Word, let His richness permeate the fibers of your being. When there is a house to be built, or a city to be guarded, trust that He will let you know and guide you on what to do.

Maybe I need to be like this clove of garlic and lie dormant for a while. Then, when God has adequately prepared me, I can be put to His use, making an aromatic, flavorful addition to the world.

Betsy