Gardens along the way ....12...comparisons...

Gardens along the way....12...comparisons...

I was reading this past Sunday an acquaintance’s column about gardening...her family recently moved from the tropics to the states..

She was comparing their gardens there to here... light years away..

Bananas, pineapples, etc. which required little care to purposeful planting, weeding, fertilizing, cultivation, etc. here...both with a harvest of  fruits of your labor...

I grew up with gardening, all of my grandparents gardened...it was the expected thing, part of life...you always planted a garden for fresh and future use...my husband’s family was the same....so gardening was a value, an engrained/taught part of life...we did it in both big and little areas...

My grandparents in central California had corn, tomatoes, kumquats, grapes, figs and were close to areas where they could harvest walnuts, oranges, lemons...

My grandparents in Northern California had  huge gardens of beans, cabbage, raspberries, blackberries, plums, peas, plus so much more...

They both had flowers in abundance to fill in beautiful canvas of their yards...

My parents had gardens wherever we lived...my mom talked about one particular winter, when money was tight, we ate canned green beans in milky gravy as a staple...the milk was free from the dairy we lived on...

As years passed, my mother’s primary gardening morphed into flowers, her artistry showing in every niche of the places they lived right up until her death...whereas my father’s gardening was trees, oaks and redwoods, with some other evergreens thrown in...he was awarded for his cultivation of the trees with “ Regional Tree Farmer of the Year”...and also competed in the National Judging as well...ever loving to share his knowledge with teachers and grandchildren...or anyone who had questions...

Over 43 years of marriage and now 8 years of widowhood, I am still gardening, now reduced to box gardens from the various sized gardens we planted along the way...but enjoying the fruits of ground and God’s abundance....

I remember having an area that was marked off that was just “my” garden...my choices of veggies...that was an honor...I later did the same for my children if they so desired ...so my children have been exposed to gardening all of their lives as well...some of them carried on, while others didn’t....one grandchild recently, proudly showed off his first “baby” tomatoes from a plant we chose at the local farm store...

We have seen gardens along the railways in China, terraced mountains, enclosed gardens in Mongolia to the well watered deserts of Israel, the tropics, river hugging fields in mountainous areas, drought ridden ones in Africa, aquaponics startups to take to the world...each useful to the people and culture in which it was planted...

God provided the first garden for man who was later banished from that “perfectness” to working his own with toil and weeds...which we still must face no matter where we live on this planet...a result of sin in that beautiful well watered garden...

The Israelites left Egyptian slavery with Moses leading them into the desert with a promise to inhabit a land filled with “milk and honey “, fields and gardens they had not planted....a 40 year long journey wandering, food provided, until their entry and promise fulfilled...from leeks to abundance...

Down through the Biblical ages there is references to gardens...wheat fields, orchards, vineyards, quiet prayer spots....a place of replenishment, quiet, growth...

Thank YOU....for your teaching in the gardens of life, your presence through the plenty and droughts , your supply...your provision, even the weeds to remind me to rid myself of the unwanted, plucking out the sins in my life to reach a harvest...desiring to be well watered in Your Word...

Sharing with others, gathering in the right times, preserving for future use...the toils and joys of life...winnowing the chaff to get the pure food...and so much more...thank  YOU...

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 

Genesis 2:8-10,15

The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul — then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

Deuteronomy 11:10-15 

I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Isaiah 58:11 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

John 15:1-4