Rain that Restores

I got spoiled by the daily rains and moderate temperatures and forgot about my sugar snaps. The temperatures rose into the eighties, and I went to the lake for a few days. When I came home, I found my sugar snap plants traumatized by the heat and lack of water.

I do my best, but sometimes I let down those who depend on me.

I now spend time with my sugar snaps every day. I speak soft words of encouragement and sing gentle melodies. I add plant food to the hose nozzle and water them daily. They are recovering. New green growth graces their stems. The browned leaves are returning to health. I think they will recover sufficiently to bear fruit in the future.

In my efforts to restore my sugar snaps, I can’t forget these new plants I added to my garden – tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, and oregano. Or ignore my garlic, fig, and raspberries. Perhaps I have over committed, but these plants are in the ground, and I need to care for them.

I have a soaker hose stretched along most of the garden, but it didn’t extend to the sugar snaps. They rarely last into June due to the heat. Surely, I can water them by hand until then. And yet I didn’t. And I head out of town again in May. Do I need plant-sitters to water and pick my sugar snaps daily?

As I write this, a gentle rain soaks my garden. Clouds promise to keep the temperatures in the seventies. God is tending my garden today. He is tending His wider garden of flowers and trees that are bursting with new life. I am so grateful for His sustaining love.

In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good – giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy. Acts 14:16-17.

As much as I care for my garden and extend extra care to my sugar snaps, God cares even more for us and our growth. Sometimes we are traumatized by the actions of others. Sometimes we feel ourselves wither under adverse conditions. Sometimes we are burdened by the guilt of our own actions or failure to act. Sometimes, I find it hard to grow.

I trust that God will send his gentle rains and the clouds that hide the sun’s harsh glare. And when the time is right, He will clear the skies and warm the earth and I will reach for those bright rays of sunlight.

I think my sugar snaps will be all right. I will devise a way to extend the soaker hose to include them while I am away. I have friends and family who can harvest peas and tend to the plants. I have confessed my inattentiveness and been forgiven. I am working to repair the damage done. This gentle rain reminds me that God is working to repair the damage as well, out of love for all He created.

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Isreal: In returning and rest, you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength… He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle shall graze in broad pastures. Isaiah 30:15,23.

When the rain stops, I’ll head to the garden and talk with my growing plants. Nourished by gentle rain and encouraged by moderate temperatures, I hope that they will encourage me in return. God is so good and so faithful, sending the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). May you and I both be restored by soft rain and gentle melodies.

Love in Christ, Betsy