Possibilities

I confess. I spent a solid hour the other day immersing myself in the new seed catalogue. Oh, the possibilities! So many options! So many colors! So many different things that I could plant! They all look so beautiful, and I haven’t even looked at the flowers yet!

And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15.

Because let’s be real here. I do not have the space, time, physical strength, or patience to grow all these plants. Some of them might not grow here even if I did have all those things. Professionals grew the fruit in these pictures, many different professionals from across the country. 140 pages of fruits and vegetables and flowers, thousands of varieties. I will grow less than ten.

I am not a professional gardener; I am not even a very good gardener. To be good at something, truly good at it, takes time and effort and determination and commitment. I am not willing to give that to my garden.

Is this a lack of ambition on my part? A lack of seriousness? An aversion to hard work?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you as a robber, and want like an armed warrior. Proverbs 6:10-11.

I like to think instead that I am dedicating my time, effort, and determination to other things, things I value more highly than giant bell peppers or cucumber varieties.

I like to think that I am not over-committing myself to plants and a garden that will demand my time. I hope I am leaving ample space for God to lead me to new places, new activities, other responsibilities.

As much as I love my garden, love being outside, love digging in the dirt, love harvesting fresh veggies, the garden is not my life, not my ‘small g’ god. God is my God. If He were to call me away from the garden to other work, I like to think I would go without a backward glance.

To keep myself open to the possibilities of what God may call me to do, I need to turn away from some of the possibilities presented to me by this catalogue.

Over-commitment is something I have struggled with my entire life. I am not the only one. Keeping my hand down and my mouth shut often seems an impossible task. There is so much that needs doing, so much I could be doing. How do I balance doing too much with not doing enough?

It sounds simplistic, but the first thing I must determine is who I am letting judge what is too much and what is not enough. Am I comparing myself to a catalogue of professional photos? Am I letting social media dictate how I should be spending my time? Am I trying to impress my friends?

Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10.

If I want to be a servant of Christ, and I do, then He is whose approval I need to seek. I want to focus on the activities He has given me to do. I need to sit at His feet and listen for what He wants me to do, then do it.

Just because the possibility exists for me to have a garden closer to the ones pictured in the catalogue doesn’t mean I should pursue it. Spending an hour looking at the pictures is like eye-candy, garden-porn, plant-lust. I confess. I am grateful God calls me to turn my eyes away and return to Him.

Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2.

Betsy