Anytime we plant, there’s a certain amount faith and wonder involved.
Earlier this week, we were blessed with fabulous weather. We had several days of warm sun. It’s the last week of February and when we get a day where temps reach seventy degrees, it’s a gift. And since it’s been gray, cold and rainy for weeks on end, it was especially sweet. When my watch buzzed at me, reminding me that I needed to get up and move around, I headed outside.
The earth still looked completely dead and my backyard was covered in piles of leaves everywhere, but I used the opportunity to throw some sticks over the fence and check on the goldfish pond. We covered it with a net in an attempt to keep the leaves out. As I scanned the area, a seemingly dead plant in a pot underneath the net, caught my eye. It was a hydrangea that I planted last year.
To my delight, there were green buds forming on the ends. Life was being produced and resurrection was happening from something that appeared dead to the outside observer.
Millions of people planted gardens last year in response to the pandemic and I recently read an article discussing the fact that our desire to garden during a crisis has been documented back to World War II. In 1943, a Life Magazine Article reported there were 18,000,000 Victory Gardens growing in America. While I’ve no doubt they were started out of necessity, I suspect the planters received much more than food from tending their gardens.
Planting seeds takes a certain amount of faith. Once we dig a hole and put a seed or a plant in it, we can water it. We can fertilize it. But, we cannot make it grow. Gardening or any type of planting teaches us that we are not in control, even though we often so desperately want to be. Sometimes we do everything right with our tending and nurturing and what we plant refuses to thrive. Sometimes we don’t put in nearly the amount of care that we should, yet we are still blessed with a bumper crop.
I think growing and tending are in our DNA. God calls us to plant, because it grounds us and it makes us remember that He is sovereign.
Kindergartners often have a project where they plant seeds in a cup. They are filled with wonder when a fully formed, colorful flower pops up. Planting makes us remember the wonder of God.
A hydrangea springing back to life provided me with some much needed wonder. I certainly can use some wonder in the season I am living in. Perhaps you can too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂