An unsuspecting me in 2009
Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”It's important to understand that I've never been a gardener. I liked the idea of a garden, but I had no desire to get out there and get dirty, prune, cut back, weed, mulch, pick anything, or do hand-to-hand combat with pests. When we arrived in Louisiana a few years ago, my husband suggested we put in some raised beds for a vegetable garden, and I figured it was a good idea since we'd had little luck with the few containers of tomatoes we'd tried to grow in Florida. Maybe we'd have some tomato success in LA. Here, I must say, it's important to understand my husband...he doesn't wade into anything - he jumps right into the deep end. So we built three boxes, got a truck full of soil, and hit Lowes at full tilt. Squash, several varieties of peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, okra, and more I can't even recall.
Then the real work began. We had to maintain all those vegetables by watering, weeding, mulching, pinching, cutting, and debugging. We had to pick things and then we had to clean them, cook them, eat them, freeze them, or can them. You can believe me when I say I was gritting my teeth by the end of the first season. My husband would walk in with a basketful of cucumbers, and I knew I was in for a day of canning pickles with vinegar stinging my nose and eyes. The worst part of all was when the okra started producing and wouldn't stop. Apparently okra loves long, hot summers. Did I mention that I hate okra? Unless it's well hidden in a really good gumbo, I seriously detest it. My husband loves it. So we ate it. Fried. And what we didn't eat, we froze so we could eat it later. Sigh.
Eventually, I got more into things. I planted purple hull peas and an herb garden. I begged for pole beans and Randy built me a trellis for them to climb. I found that I really enjoyed tending to the peas as they were very low maintenance. The pole beans took a little more effort and didn't produce much. What they did produce was tough, so the next summer I tried them once more and found that I'm a pretty poor pole bean planter. I gave up on them. The peas, however, flourished. I loved picking them. I especially loved shelling them. I'd grab a big old Tupperware bowl my mother gave me years ago and sit out on the back porch just shelling away. I felt like I was finding treasure with every pea that popped out into that bowl. Parboiling them and freezing them was no trouble at all. Cooking them to eat right away was even better. I started to better appreciate Randy's love of okra then. In fact, I started enjoying the okra, battered in fish fry and dipped in ketchup, of course!
Good looking, but poorly producing pole beans
azalea bushes.
I'm sure my husband is wondering what in the world has happened to me and when it's going to stop. I'll bet he's waiting for me to grow tired of this garden fever halfway through my next project. I won't though, because this isn't really about me. It's about obedience to God. Somehow, I know this is what God has put into my heart, and I feel compelled to do it. There's no way I could get out there and work this hard in 99 degree weather on a late June day without the strength of God. I've been pulling up old azalea roots, lopping off tree branches, hauling wheelbarrows full of roots, weeds, sticks, and leaves across the back yard and into the woods to dump over and over again for the past two days, and still I can't wait to get back out there and work some more tomorrow. That's not me. That's most certainly not me at all. That's God.
I looked at a note pad I put by my bed before I started this blog. It had ideas about what to write about. I knew I wanted it to be about my new love of everything garden. I also knew it had to be about my my renewal of faith. On the pad, I'd written obedience even in the small things. I thought that was going to mean keeping up with laundry and cleaning the sink out before bed each night. When I really started reflecting on it, though, I realized that it meant taking care of everything He has entrusted to me. My marriage, my husband, my children, my home - inside and out, my family, my friendships...you get the picture. Everything God has entrusted into my care. Somehow, the garden has become so very important because of what it means to my marriage - it's an activity my husband and I can share and enjoy together. It's important to our health - fresh vegetables with all of the vitamins and nutrients still in them. It's important to finish what I start. It's important to be self-sustaining. It's important to be faithful to my Father, and it's important to me to be faithful to my earthly father who loves his garden and descends from ancestors who loved theirs, as well.
The best part of all is the feeling of fulfillment I have at the end of a day gardening. I love seeing and enjoying what my hands have created. It reminds me of God's love for all He created and how much love He has for us. I love knowing I'm in His will. I love feeling so close to Him. I love being obedient, even in the small things, because that's when I feel His love in the biggest way.
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