Growing With Your Garden

Over the past few months at home, my family has really gotten into gardening and growing our own produce. Yesterday, as I spent some time outside picking herbs for our dinner, I realized that I have learned quite a lot about life during social distancing and self-quarantine from something as simple as gardening.

1. Plant your seeds

Until we planted our seeds in our garden, they were just sitting in a kitchen drawer just taking up space, because we always had the intention of planting them but kept putting it off. When we finally put them in some soil, we were so overjoyed to see little sprouts poke out, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor (no pun intended!). This seemed like a really good representation of how we all have goals of new things we are going to try, or things we want to improve in our lives, but we just let them remain as thoughts and dreams without working to make them a reality. All it takes is one step in the right direction, and soon you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals.

2. Water your plants

Just like you can’t stick a seed in a pot of soil and magically expect plants (unless you’re Jack with magic beans!), you can’t just start a good thing, then leave it and hope for the best, because the positive things in our lives require attention and care in order to thrive. For me, my “good thing” I have been working to improve is literally drinking more water, so I’ve dedicated time to tracking my water intake in my journal and always making sure that my water bottle is full. For you, it might be reading more books, learning to cook, or exercising more. Whatever your “good thing” is, make sure you give yourself the resources to sustain it so it doesn’t just fizzle out.

3. Clear out the weeds

It’s not enough to keep and nurture the positive things in your life, but you also have to work to get rid of the negative, whether it is a habit you are trying to kick, an environment that doesn’t inspire productivity or creativity, or even clutter that doesn’t “spark joy” anymore. Decluttering anything from your to-do list, to your closet, will help clear space for the things that matter most to you.

4. Bask in the light of the Son

Most plants need sunlight to grow, but some flowers actually turn in the direction of the sun in a phenomenon called heliotropism! As the sun moves across the sky, they turn towards it to bask in its light and warmth more fully. We as believers should also seek to follow the will and path of the Son, Jesus. As we grow and walk through life, we should always keep ourselves focused on the Lord and rely on Him for our strength and joy, and everything else will fall into place.