Lessons from a garden

The girls and I are spending some time at my parent's house this summer... to garden. We're using their large garden plot and, in the process, having "special Grandma time."

Not too long back, we went to get a few plants: tomato, eggplant, squash, and peppers. None of which the girls will eat. Or so they declare. :) But still, the idea of growing their own food, be it the "gross" kind, excites them. I don't know if it's because they get to play in the dirt. Or because they get to see ME play in the dirt. Or because it's just doing something new.

But regardless, it's fun for me to see them experience it all with such innocent wonder. Which happens to be, as I'm finding, one of the many perks of parenthood: Renewed outlook.

Fresh. Untainted. Nonjudgemental. Full of expectation.

No wonder the bible says we all need to become like little children again. I mean, Charis will literally stop at a flower and exclaim "Beautiful!" Never before have I understood the phrase "stop and smell the roses" like I do now. Man, I'd love to have that kind of zeal for the every day things!

We just put the plants in the ground about a month ago. Yet, the very next week, as we discussed going to our garden, Charis thought we were going to be picking the fruit right then. :) Just a few days after sowing the seeds. But isn't that how I am too sometimes? I do some thing...pray some prayer...obey some spiritual law...and expect immediate results.

Yeah, there are times that prayer is answered almost before I get out an "amen". Like a 911 call. "The answer is on the way...be there in 5 minutes." I've seen those immediate answers unfold before my eyes.

But then, there are times that I. must. wait.

Circumstances have to fall into place, perservence has to be strengthened, the stage has to be set....before the Lord's answer comes. Just like my garden. For, I KNOW the fruit will come. As long as I take care and water and weed and watch....

Lord, help me to first, realize the true nature and power of prayer. And then to simply pray. And pray. And pray some more. Without trying to analyze whether this one will be answered as a "garden prayer" or as a "911 prayer".

All I need to know is my part is to pray. That my part is to set things in motion in a realm that is usually unseen. And then to wait for the answer to make itself known. like the first sign of growth pushing up past the dirt. (and on an aside: if you think about it...farmers use manure to help things grow. I'll let you come up with that analogy all by yourself. :) Because that's a whole other story!)