Psalm 104:13-15

"He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; _ the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, _ and plants for people to cultivate— _ bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, _ oil to make their faces shine, _ and bread that sustains their hearts.”


Gardening is a way for us to eat healthier, for it means fresh produce on our tables. Not only that, but it also requires dedication, manual labor and time. All positive qualities in a Christian, for the Lord wants dedication to Him, people who are not afraid to work hard for life is not handed over on a silver platter and time. He wants us for eternity, not just a fleeting moment every once in a while.

When I get down on my knees in the soil, I can only praise God for allowing me to do this seemingly simple task. All I do is “cultivate” as the verse states, after all He is the one who gave us the plants. He designed the seeds to react to the combination of fertilizer, soil and sunshine. How much simpler can it get? Yet it takes a great deal of effort, which in our society seems unreasonable when we can simply walk into a grocery store and buy a perfectly mundane fruit or vegetable. Have you ever tasted a zucchini freshly plucked off the stems mere hours earlier? How about basil you harvested only a minute earlier, added to your sauce or topped on your meal. If you have, you know how much fresher, how much more zest they have to offer than days or even weeks old produce. Harvests from our garden have not yet been frozen, bruised from travel, or even sprayed with chemical. God did not intend food to be created that way. Instead He wants us to cultivate.

When looking at the word cultivate, I was curious to see what the exact definition was. Here it is:

Cul-ti-vate [kuhl-tuh-veyt] Show IPA
–verb (used with object),-vat-ed, -vat-ing.
1.
to prepare and work on (land) in order to raise crops; till.
2.
to use a cultivator on.
3.
to promote or improve the growth of (a plant, crop, etc.) by labor and attention.
4.
to produce by culture: to cultivate a strain of bacteria.
5.
to develop or improve by education or training; train; refine: to cultivate a singing voice.
6.
to promote the growth or development of (an art, science, etc.); foster.
7.
to devote oneself to (an art, science, etc.).
8.
to seek to promote or foster (friendship, love, etc.).
9.
to seek the acquaintance or friendship of (a person).

To prepare and work on, to promote or improve growth by labor and attention, produce by culture, devote oneself to, and to seek. All actions that the Lord wants us to apply to our relationship with Him as well. While gardening itself is important, let’s not forget that in the Bible, Jesus himself stated that his Father is THE gardener.

John 15:1-3

"The Vine and the Branches
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."

He also wants us to cultivate our relationship with Him, promoting growth by devoting ourselves to Him. We can do this by spending time with Him, reading the Bible, taking time to pray, memorizing His Words, applying His lessons to our lives and more.

With this in mind, I encourage you to garden! Maybe you already have one in your backyard, or you might be thinking that you don’t have any space to grow anything, whether you live in the city or not. You can buy a pot, or even find an old bowl and fill it with soil. The simplest of those are herbs, such as basil. Be sure to water it daily and let it bask in the warmth of the sunshine on a window sill. If you want to start a garden outside, be sure to clear out a space, perhaps a square by building a landscaper’s box. I have two, since the raised bed allows for deeper roots, better water distribution and faster warming system. There are plenty of how-to books or even articles on line that you can look up to see how to accomplish this. Or perhaps you already have a huge garden! If you feel you cannot do any of these, how about finding a farmer’s market or a local grocery store that buys directly from local farmers?

I began prepping my garden a week ago, by using the compost pile we have out back. I was able to loosen the soil and plant the seeds. I felt like a little kid playing in the dirt! Hopefully it will do well this year with labor, attention and dedication.



My garden all prepped to go!



The compost pile- you can see how much we've used. It comes from yard trimmings, leaves and discarded roots from my garden last year.

Don’t forget to cultivate your relationship with the Lord; perhaps study the passages included in this posting.