Gardening

Now that it's fall, and everything is dying, it's a good time to think about gardening, think against the grain, when everything is budding.

Oh the many analogies in gardening to the Christian life, and to human life. You realize them as you garden.

WEEDS

1. There are many varieties. Sometimes you don't know if a plant is a weed or something planted by the gardener.

2. They appear with no effort, they grow freely and appear easily. You don't have to choose them, buy them, or plant them.

3. Their roots are sometimes deeper and harder to dig up than the desirable plants. They are hardy and strong.

4. They grow up overnight-quickly.

5. They can look good but do damage to good plants. Deceptive. Desirable plants can be thwarted by weeds, so weeds have to be dug up or killed.

6. The dandy lion weed has a deep root like a carrot, like false vegetable or false food, and is very hard to pull out.

7. If you pull it out but don't get the whole root, it grows back. Bitterness: the bible calls it the root of bitterness-it runs deep, it has to come all the way out or it comes back.

8. If you are able to pull out the whole thing, it goes away.

9. Dandy lion and other weeds- so ugly, except for the yellow flower. Destructive to grass and other plants.

10. When the soil is watered, it's easier to pull out weeds by the roots. Analogous to the raining of the holy Spirit.

11. Sun causes weeds to grow as well as the good plants.

12. More sophisticated weed killers were not available in the past, but now we can kill them more efficiently and thoroughly.

13. As a child, I remember picking and fondling dandy lion weeds. So different from how I feel about them as an adult. Reason I dislike them as adult: dandy lions are a symbol of neglect.

15. Weeds tend to crop up most where the good plants begin to grow.

OTHER areas of gardening

1. Good, desirable plants have to be bought and carefully cultivated, they don't appear instantaneously or effortlessly.

2. A beautiful garden or fruitful field has to be planted and cultivated by human hands. God doesn't just grow everything as it needs to be without us doing our part. He has left it up to human hands to bring it about. Saying: that a farmer planted a field and said, "look at the crops I grew." The person said in reply: "only God can grow a crop." the farmer turned to a field that was uncultivated and said, "oh yeh? Look at the field I let God plant all by himself!" In another teaching I will discuss our part and call it: 'our obligation to let go, and our obligation to hold on."

3. Beautiful breeds of flowers originated with wild flowers that in some places and times did just appear, but that humans cultivated. All plant life was made by God and comes from God. Our part as the gardener is vital, and yet, we aren't the creators. We have to do our part, and then the rest is up to God. We can't do the actual creation of the plant. We can't cause the actual growth, we can only encourage it. He gets the credit, but we get the benefits.

4. The good plants can be hardy also and can take over a garden eventually so that weeds don't grow.

5. Watering is essential, Sunshine is essential.

7. Plants are more vulnerable and may not become plants at the seed stage.

8. Seeds sometimes require more nurturing.

9. Different types of plants thrive in different climates.

10. Plants can be tended too much and die.

11.new plants in the ground also require extra nurturing.

12.moving a plant to a different location can traumatize it and kill it