Corralling cucumbers

Cucumbers, like all their squash cousins, are rambunctious, exuberant, enthusiastic plants. The plants will grow to fill whatever space you have provided and then grow some more. Fences are merely obstacles easily overcome.

In our first garden, we planted winter squash because the plants were available. We had no fence on our terraced garden, so the squash grew into our yard, through the fence and into the neighbor’s yard. We ate squash until we were sick of it.

That first year, we planted the cucumbers next to the tomatoes. The cucumbers grew into the tomatoes and hung their fruit on the cages right beside the tomatoes.

Now, I plant the cucumbers alone, away from any other vegetable, and fence them in on all sides.

But a fence is not enough. When I walk my garden every day, I have to put the cucumbers vines back inside the fence. They are not very fragile, so I can manhandle them more than I can the tomatoes. I need to be just as enthusiastic as they are.

I love their enthusiasm. I can relate. I often feel like I am on the verge of being out of control, like I am testing the boundaries and going outside the fence. I am grateful that God sends His Spirit to corral my exuberance.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. John 16:12

My ministers, my Christian friends, the Bible – all help me stay inside the fence, help me stay in right relationship, help my wandering thoughts to return to God and Jesus.

All scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

And you know what? This rambunctious, exuberant, enthusiastic attitude is exactly what makes cucumbers and their squash cousins such prolific producers of fruit. They have no fear, no timidity, no apparent caution. They just keep growing until a stronger hand moves them back into the fence.

I think God likes enthusiasm.

Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Romans 12:11

In John’s Revelation, only the church of Laodicea receives no praise.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16

So grow with abandonment dear cucumbers! I will corral and correct your growth, just as God corrals and corrects mine. I hope that my enthusiasm makes God smile as much as the cucumber’s enthusiasm makes me smile.

I pray I can be as enthusiastic about serving the Lord, about growing in my faith, about becoming all that God has planned for me to be, as my cucumbers are.

But I also admire those hardy pepper plants. They grow up straight and strong and bear their fruit with pride. Growing between the tomatoes and cucumbers, I check on them every day, but rarely do they need anything from me except water. I’d like to think I could be like them, not needing correction and containment or even tender training, but God creates each plant differently and each person differently.

So whether you relate to the enthusiastic cucumber, the prized tomato, or the independent pepper, or even the fragile sugar snap, know that God values you. Praise God that He grows all kinds of plants in His garden. Praise God that He cares for each plant in the manner best suited to its particular needs. Please know that He values, grows, and cares for each of you as well.

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. Genesis 1:29

Keep growing, my friend!

Betsy

In Him all things were created. John 1:3

Training tomatoes

My tomatoes look so good! After the disaster of the sugar snaps, these healthy plants are a source of joy.

But I still need to tend to them daily. Not only do they need water, but they need training.

Tomato stems are not strong enough to bear their own weight, much less the weight of their fruit. As the branches grow, I must continually pull them inside the tomato cages or they will lie on the ground, spoiling the fruit. I gently lift the growing branches and rest them on the nearest rib of the cage. Gently, gently, because the new branches are fragile.

If I allow the branch to get too big before training them to the cage, I will have to bend the branch and risk breaking it. So I watch for fresh growth and support the branches with the cage as soon as possible.

The importance of training the tomatoes to the cages is something we learned from experience. Many plants, like the pepper plants, can bear the weight of their own fruit, but tomato plants cannot. The weight of the tomato will break the branch. Only when the branch is supported by the cage, can it bear the weight of the ripe tomato.

Do I need to be trained to accept support? I’m not a fan of needing help. It makes me feel old and weak. But these tomatoes are healthy and growing. It’s not that the plant is weak, but that the fruit is massive in comparison. A pear has an entire tree to support it. A similar sized tomato has only this tiny plant.

Perhaps, if my fruit is large compared to myself, I need support for it.

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amelek prevailed. But Moses’ arms grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side, so his hands were steady. Exodus 17:11-12

I find the fruit of the Spirit so appealing – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, generosity and self-control. So Melanie from Gone with the Wind. So counter to my Scarlett personality. I need support; I need to be trained to bear this fruit successfully. I am grateful to my friends who offer that support and gently correct me. I am thankful when they let me lean on them. Hopefully, I will can do the same for them or someone else someday. That is what the Christian community is all about – support.

Therefore encourage one another, and build up each other, as indeed you are doing… And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. I Thessalonians 5:11,14

Already there are little yellow flowers and tiny green tomatoes in my garden. I know it will be weeks, perhaps even months, before I can harvest any. But the promise is there. And the reminder to train the plant to the support cage before the fruit becomes heavy. A reminder to allow myself to be supported; to support others, and to encourage others to accept support. With support, the plant can produce abundant fruit. With support, that fruit is visible and available to the world.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Thank you for supporting me as I garden, and as I write about gardening. Thank you to the many of you who have helped me grow as a Christian and learn to live as a widow. I thank our Lord for the gift of you.

Betsy

Let me praise God before the assembly. Psalm 22:22

Success?

I have sugar snaps! All three of them were delicious!

I heard an actor speak once about the false gods Americans embrace – success, wealth and beauty. The importance of these is so interwoven into our culture that we hardly recognize it. Many of us weave these into our religion as well, somehow believing that living faithfully will make us successful, wealthy, and beautiful. But is this the example Jesus gave us? Without His resurrection, would any of us describe Jesus as successful, wealthy, or beautiful? Certainly not in the the world’s view.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? John 24:9-10

Of course, the tricky part of this is “success” because the definition is flexible. Was Jesus a success because many people came out to listen to Him? 10,000 likes on Facebook? Success used to be linked with wealth, but we could also link it with power or influence. In today’s culture, a company needs to be profitable, generous and socially conscious to be “successful,” although I think the profitable bit is still very key.

Was my sugar snap garden successful? I got three peas. Is that success? No, it is not. I have been round and round about what went wrong, what I could do better, and what I will try next year. Because even if I am not “successful,” I believe God wants me to give it my best effort.

Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord. Colossians 3:23

But for now, the spring garden is a bust. It is time to pull up the cages, take down the fence and let the mowers cut the weeds back. This year’s sugar snaps were a failure. If I were in a more unhealthy place, I might feel like I was a failure as well. There have certainly been times when my failure at a task has led me to feel like a failure as a person. But today, it just feels like another lesson from the garden. Perhaps being able to write about it has helped.

Perhaps I am redefining “success” and “failure.” Perhaps “success” has very little to do with production or profit or popularity. Perhaps it has nothing to do with wealth or beauty.

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. Matthew 19:21

I am grateful for my three sugar snaps. I ate them with joy and thanksgiving. They were a gift from God. And they came, as they do every year, around Pentecost.

Pentecost, 50 days after Passover/Easter, marks the end of the Festival of Weeks and the celebration of First Fruits. One of the oldest Jewish festivals, Moses made it a mandatory celebration in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. By Jesus’s time, the Jewish people celebrated Pentecost as the day God gave His law to His people. It was as the people were celebrating the gift of the law that God gave the gift of His Spirit to His people.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4

And isn’t it always a “success” when God gives us a gift? When God gives us His law, so we know what pleases and angers Him? When God gives us His Spirit to make us new creations? When God gives me three delicious sugar snaps to enjoy?

Thank You, Lord. What wonderful fruit You have created. What a blessing You have given to me. Thank You.

Betsy

Thank you for reading along and joining me on this journey. Even if you don’t have a garden, God is growing something in your life. Trust Him and enjoy the fruit.

The earth is full of His majesty. Isaiah 6:3

A blocked hose

I was watering the garden this morning, as I do every morning, and suddenly no water was coming through the hose. Hmm. I gave the hose a shake, because sometimes that helps, but this time it didn’t. I set the spray nozzle down and went looking for what was blocking the flow of water. There was no reason to continue to hold the spray nozzle if no water was coming through.

Sure enough, the hose was kinked, twisted, blocking the flow of water. I untangled the hose, opened the flow, and resumed my watering.

Do you ever feel your prayer life is, well, blocked? I do. It’s like there’s just no juice, no flow. Maybe God is busy with other things. But maybe the problem isn’t God, but me. Maybe I have become kinked, twisted, and am blocking the flow. Odd that I would just go on praying; I would never continue to stand there with the hose.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3

Perhaps, when my prayer life seems to run dry, I need to give the hose a shake. I may even need to investigate what may block the flow. If I am asking for God’s guidance, am I really prepared to follow His lead? Or am I simply asking Him to approve the decision I have already made? Has He asked me to do something that I have still left undone? Am I still defending my ungodly thoughts, justifying unkind actions?

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

In order for the plants to survive and produce fruit, the water needs to flow through the hose. In order for me to produce the Spirit’s fruit, in order for God’s love to flow through me to other people, the hose needs to be free from blockage. My ego, my will, my personal agenda all block my prayer life and my growth as a Christian. They block my ability to love God and to love others.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interest of others. Philippians 2:3-4

It is a constant battle to not judge everything by how it affects me personally. Am I really prepared to subjugate my desires to those of another? I am sure I have done that for Nick and my children, at least occasionally. But as a general rule, that’s a tough one. But to love, truly love from a pure heart, unmarred by selfish desires, that is what God calls us to do.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you can have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. I Peter 1:22

It is only when I am purified of pride, or greed, or anger, or a personal agenda that I can show genuine, God-given love to another. Then the communication between God and me seems to flow. Then my garden can flourish.

So next time my prayer life seems to become stale and dry, I will learn from the garden and check for blockages in the hose.

And remember, you need to water that garden every day. Even when you are sick or on vacation or seemingly too busy. Every day.

Betsy

Thank you for joining me on this journey! I appreciate the gift of your time and your thoughts.

By this they will know that you are mine, that you love one another as I loved you. John 13:35

Water

Many of the things I have done so far in my garden – the fencing, the weed cloth, the tomato cages – improve my garden but aren’t truly essential to the plants. Water is essential. Without water, the plants will perish.

Gardens can get water naturally through rain, automatically with a water timer and a stationary hose, or by hand with a hose and spray nozzle. But the plants have to have water.

Many of the things I do as a Christian improve my relationship with God, but aren’t essential. Prayer is essential. Without prayer, without conversation with God, the relationship will perish.

In the spring, in Tennessee, I don’t need to worry about watering my garden much; it rains a lot. Nature (God) provides the water with no effort on my part. Sometimes in my life, prayer arises with no effort or thought on my part. Prayer can be a natural outpouring of gratitude, awe, need, or concern. I think, ideally, this is the way it should be. I think, in the kingdom of God, this is how it is.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I Thessalonians 5:16-18

But we’re not there yet. In my world, I need to water my plants. I need to make a plan for watering my garden, and I need to make a plan for prayer.

After Nick’s cancer diagnosis, we went to the ocean several times a year, often for a week or two. Some of these trips occurred as the garden was growing, so we needed an automated watering system. He buried a pipeline to the spigot, attached it to a soaker hose spread throughout the garden, and installed a water timer. When we were gone, the timer would turn on the water every evening and the garden would get water. Many times our prayers lives are similar; there is an automatic nature to them. We pray at meals, before we go to bed, at Sunday Worship, before and after Bible studies and church meetings. And as long as the water is flowing, and the prayer is sincere, this is a wonderful way to water your garden.

But if my schedule is flexible and I will be in town, I prefer to water by hand. There’s something about standing face to face with plants, gauging how much water each plant needs, observing the fresh growth and the weeds. It’s more personal somehow, more intimate. When and how much I water may change based on the day’s circumstances. I can wash off the bird droppings and the dust with a light mist.

And if I have not over-scheduled myself, and my mind is not elsewhere, this is how I like to pray. Just set aside a time during the day to stand (sit or kneel) face to face with God, gauging my needs and His desires, observing my fresh growth and my weeds. It’s more personal somehow, more intimate. When and for what I pray may change based on the day’s circumstances. I can ask for and receive forgiveness, gently given by one who knows exactly what I need.

The important thing is to pray, to water my garden. The manner, the situation, the impetus, none of that is as important as the actual heartfelt act of prayer.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

Even the words don’t matter.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26

Keep the water flowing dear friends; keep praying.

Betsy

Thank you for joining me on this journey and for sharing your time with me. If you are enjoying the trip, please subscribe, follow, and/or share this with others.

He is able to do far more than we can even imagine. Ephesians 3:20

Doubt

I didn’t want to post this picture. It is a picture of flaws and failings. It is a picture of what my sugar snaps look like right now. Not what I want them to look like, but what they actually look like.

God uses flawed and failing people to do wonderful things. He could just do them Himself, but He works through us instead. Hopefully, God can use my flaws and failings as well, because those sugar snaps look like failure to me.

I seem to remember having sugar snaps to eat by this time in the past, but the plants are too immature this year. They are barely taller than the weeds. Will I be able to harvest some of the delicious fruit? I don’t know.

A garden is an act of faith, just like the Christian life. I’m doubting right now.

If a garden has taught me nothing else, it has taught me I am not its master. There are too many variables outside my control.

How much can I do, really, to guarantee a harvest of sugar snaps?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring…. Instead, you ought to say, “if the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16

I want to “fix it.” I want to make the garden do what I want it to do. I want those sugar snaps tall and healthy and producing fruit right now. Shall I stomp my foot? Do you think it would help?

Sigh. Of course not.

Has it ever helped?

There are things beyond my control. Many, many things. Most things. Family, friends, pets, wildlife, trees, and my sugar snaps. I can influence them, but I am not in control of them. I love them too much to beat them into submission. So instead I will encourage them.

I will continue to go out every day and talk to my plants. I will water them and encourage them to cling to the support provided. I will be patient.

I am going to have faith that I will get at least some sugar snap harvest. There are plants, and they are growing. Nature is God’s non-verbal expression of His love, and God and nature operate on their own schedule, not taking my plans into account. This is how it needs to be. God, being God, has a much better vision of what and when than I do.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. Isaiah 55:8

I take comfort from the Jesus’ parable of the sower told in Matthew 13 and Luke 8. Even if the seed has escaped being trampled on or eaten by birds, even if it has grown deep roots in good soil and overcome the thorns, even when it has brought forth fruit, the results vary.

Other seed fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:8

Maybe this is just a “thirty-fold” year. It may even be a year of no harvest. Maybe I just need to not compare this year to other years, or this garden to other gardens, or myself to other people. Or, as my yoga and stretch teacher says, keep my eyes on my own mat.

Keep my eyes on what God is growing in this garden right now. Love on these sugar snaps and be grateful for them. Rejoice in their growth and give thanks for whatever they may yield.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you. I Thessalonians 5:18

Will I get a sugar snap harvest? I’ll keep you posted.

Betsy

Restore a right spirit within me, O lord. Psalm 51:10

Roots

I gently squeeze the container around the starter plant and free the plant carefully from its constraints. In my hand, covered in dirt and grime, and looking like something from a horror flick, the thin roots wrap around each other and mass together.

These roots freed from the container seem fragile. They are precious. What happens with these roots will determine what happens to the plant. I know roots can be strong and immense. Roots can reach across the yard, wrap around underground pipes, break up sidewalks and streets. But these roots, new as they are, are delicate.

I realize that this is the only time I get to see my plant’s roots. They are not pretty. But they are vital; critical to the production of fruit. Without a healthy root system, the plant won’t grow and bear fruit. Appearances can be so deceiving. Without the “ugly” root, the “pretty” flower never blooms. The squiggly, swarming white roots remind me of intestines.

The members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we cloth with greater honor. I Corinthians 12:22

Once I have carefully planted my starter plants, there is a period of unseen activity. Nothing changes on the surface, but the roots are spreading out, reaching deeper, finding water and nutrients, establishing themselves. Have you ever heard something very inspiring that seemed to rumble around in your head for weeks on end before it ever produced any visible change in your life? That is the word taking root.

Letting God’s Word take root is an important step to bearing the fruit He wants. I need to be like Mary and “ponder these things in my heart.” (Luke 2:19). Too often, I jump to show off the new thing I have learned, without allowing it the time to develop a proper root system.

I tried for a while to “give to all you ask of you.” (Matt 5:43) Exhausting and impractical. My dollar bills here and there accomplished little and put me on every call list in the nation. Once I allowed to the verse to grow roots, it lead to a giving based more on the needs of those God had put before me, and less on my own interests. My giving became less corporate and more personal. I believe God has used the fruit produced to answer some very specific needs. I just needed to give it time to grow roots.

The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while and in a time of testing fall away. Luke 8:13

And just like the roots themselves, sometimes the root growing process is not glamorous. There can be some ugly battles underground between those roots and the dirt that was there. I need to do my part to help the roots grow. Give them time, water them regularly, protect them from predators. For me, that means spending time quietly thinking about what is growing, what it may look like in maturity, what hidden hard places are limiting its growth. Perhaps even offering an “ugly cry,” or two to water it.

There may even be a period of “root shock,” when the plant seems to regress once you’ve transplanted it. The new life, the new idea, is taking a little time to adjust to its new environment. I need patience – with the plant, with nature, with myself, with others. Because once the root establishes itself, the plant starts growing and wonderful fruit results.

As you therefore have received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith. Colossians 2:6

You have planted a new garden. Let the starter plants take root. Victory is on the horizon.

Betsy

Thank you for reading The Victory Garden. Thank you for subscribing to, following, and sharing these posts. I could not do this without your encouragement and support.

In Him all things were created. John 1:3

Starter plants

As I turn from my spring garden, the sugar snaps, to my summer garden, the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, I am amazed at how different the gardens are.

My sugar snap garden is all scattered and messy. Despite my efforts to sow the seeds in rows, the plants are helter-skelter around the garden; some growing in clusters; some outliers. There are weeds growing in and among the plants. Some plants are tall; others still hover near the ground. It’s messy. It’s growing, but it’s messy.

My faith looks like this sometimes, scattered and messy, growing helter-skelter, distracted by unwanted thought-weeds.

My summer garden, by comparison, is neat and orderly. I have placed the starter plants in a row, and I see no weeds. It’s pretty. Someone else has grown the plants from seed, so all I need to do is transplant them into my garden. Someone else has brought these plants to this level of maturity and provided them to me free of weeds, neat and orderly.

I am very grateful to those who grew these plants from seed. I appreciate their determination, effort and ability and am happy to compensate them for it. Starter plants make my garden easier.

I am very grateful as well to those Christians who have shared their growth with us, so all I need to do is transplant it into my life. I appreciate their determination, effort and ability and am happy to compensate them for it. Their theology makes my faith journey easier, less messy.

From the bed where it was planted it was transplanted to good soil by abundant waters, so that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine. Ezekiel 17:8

I do not have to grow every plant from seed; I do not have to develop every element of my faith on my own. Others have better minds, more insight, more determination to tackle complex issues; I can trust them to develop a theology that is less helter-skelter and less distracted by unwanted thought-weeds.

C. S. Lewis, Charles Stanley, John Stott, N.T. Wright, Lee Strobel, Richard Wurmbrand, Henri Nouwen – what wonderful starter plants they have given me for my Victory Garden! My ministers and teachers use theology taught by St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, CK Chesterton, John Calvin and so many others. What gifts!

So what are you wanting to grow in your garden? Faith under persecution? Richard Wurmbrand. Stillness and calm? Thomas Merton or Henri Nouwen. Discipline? A daily Bible. Rational defense of faith (Apologetics)? Lee Strobel. There are books on prayer, spiritual growth, practical theology, church creeds, biblical interpretation, warfare, grace and love. There are more resources available to you for your Christian growth than there are starter plants at Home Depot.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the scared writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3:15

All these resources can be a little overwhelming. But no one expects you to buy and plant everything at Home Depot, and no one expects you to read everything available on Amazon. Hopefully, you don’t expect that of yourself either.

Just know that you don’t have to go it alone. When you are struggling with an issue, use the resources available. Find out what the brilliant thinkers over the past 2000 years have had to say on the subject. Most likely, this thought you are struggling with is not new. Take advantage of the already developed thoughts that are out there. It will save you a lot of time and messiness.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I appreciate your sharing your time with me. I hope you’ll join me next week when the subject is roots!

Betsy

 I am the Alpha and the Omega. Revelation 1:8

Weed Cloth

It’s late April, time to get the summer garden growing. I get the tiller out again and all the fencing and begin to tear up new ground. It doesn’t take long before my hands and shoulders hurt. I call in help, but he is not Nick. All this tilling, all this hard labor, Nick did all this. Suddenly, it is all beyond my ability. I lay on my back on the ground and cry. Take me now, Lord, it is too much. I can sense His gentle smile: silly child, you can do this; look at the sugar snaps growing. And rising, I look at the growing garden, and get back to work.

The sugar snaps are growing. The tilling and fencing and planting involved have produced growing plants. Surely, if I can grow sugar snaps from seeds, I can grow tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers from starter plants. Right?

His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:23

And I’ve learned something about myself. I don’t like to weed. I yank out weeds, dig them up, and the next day they reappear. Looking at my pretty sugar snaps, I see weeds all around them.

Nick didn’t like to weed either. We designed our garden specifically to take advantage of a wonderful garden product – weed barrier cloth. Weed cloth is 3-4 feet wide and covers the tilled ground, suppressing the unwanted plant’s access to sunlight and air. Basically, the cloth prevents the weeds from ever gaining purchase in my garden. And preventing a weed from growing is far easier than pulling it once it’s grown.

I wonder if I could do this in my life. I can’t stop weeds from sprouting; I can’t stop negative unholy thoughts from springing up unwanted. But I can deprive them of sunlight and air. I can prevent them from ever gaining purchase in my life. All I need is a layer of protection.

Isn’t that what just happened? When the task seemed overwhelming, when the wave of self pity and grief overtook me, I cried out to God. I lifted my eyes and saw the sugar snaps, green and growing. God has been faithful in the past, rewarding my efforts; God will be faithful in the future.

Those sugar snap plants, the evidence of God’s faithfulness, encourage me, literally instill me with courage. I can do this; with God’s help, I can do this. I pray for strength and help. I remember Paul’s words to Timothy.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

And that is my weed cloth. It is the Holy Spirit reminding me of all that God has done for me, for people I know, and for generations before me. It is recalling the stories of God’s faithful love as recounted in the Bible and in thousands of years of testimony. I can read any of a million books of other’s stories; I can recall my own story. As I lift my eyes from my present troubles, I see those sugar snaps, green and growing.

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your deeds of old. Psalm 77:11

Today, I till up more ground, put more fencing, and lay weed barrier cloth the length of the garden. It is a lot of work, but past gardens encourage me. Victory is within reach.

Betsy

Thank you for sharing your time with me. I appreciate your encouragement. Thank you for following this blog and sharing it with others. Enjoy the Spring!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 32:1

Upward growth

If you’ve been following along, you know that I have overcome my inertia and started a garden. I have bought seeds, set aside a place to grow them, tilled the ground to battle weeds, fenced the area to combat predators and given the seeds time and water for their transformation. I now have sugar snaps growing in my garden! Yay!! Success!!

I get to celebrate for about two weeks before I realize that those little sugar snap plants are not growing up right. They are sending out tendrils searching for something to cling to and are finding nothing but each other. They are becoming entangled with each other and weighing each other down, falling to the ground instead of reaching to the sky. The plants need some structure around them; they need support.

The traditional structures for peas and beans are bean poles. I use tomato cages, which work just as well. As soon as I place a tomato cage over or near one of the young plants, those tender tendrils reach out and latch on, wrapping around and around the sturdy bars and holding on as if their lives depend on it. Maybe it does.

Without structure or support, the sugar snaps wrap themselves around each other. Instead of growing upward, they bring each other down. It’s like the drowning person who climbs upon his rescuer, drowning them both.

But with the structure, with the support, the sugar snaps grow toward the sun. They hold on to the cage and depend on it for support. Reaching upward, there is plenty of space for growth. Success for one plant does not mean failure for another. With the proper structure and support, all the plants can thrive.

Are you with me here?

I need God’s Word. Without God’s Word as structure and support for my growth, I will reach out to other people and cling to them. My dependence on them will not only limit my growth, it may also limit theirs. A Christian community that clings to a person instead of clinging to the Word of God can sometimes slip into cult status. And if that person to whom we are clinging is not himself clinging to the Word of God, the entire community can fail.

The only way a person or a group of people can ensure healthy Christian growth is to have the Bible ever present as a source of support and The Truth to which everyone can hold fast.

The Lord your God you shall follow, Him alone you shall fear, His commandments you shall keep, His voice you shall obey, Him you shall serve, and to Him you shall hold fast. Deuteronomy 13:4 (See also 2 Timothy 3:15-16)

Sugar snaps thrive best when lots of them are growing together, each holding on to the cage nearest them. Several plants use the same cage, but they are individually clinging to it; growing together. Perhaps this is how the church thrives best as well. Lots of us growing together; each of us individually holding on to the Word.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. Proverbs 3:5

And upward growth is critical. Upward growth allows the plants to absorb as much of the sun as possible and ensures their fruit will be visible and accessible. And accessing that fruit is the main reason I planted those sugar snaps.

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. John 15:16

So I get those tomato cages around and among my sugar snaps as soon as possible; I want those plants growing in the right direction from the beginning. There is fruit at stake.

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Betsy

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Romans 8:38-39