My garden plot is a lovesome thing--
God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern grot--
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not.--
Not God in gardens! When the sun is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign!
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
- Thomas Edward Brown, My Garden
I read this poem almost 20 years ago, yet it is only in the last 3 years I have begun to plant a garden myself. (skipping last year, this is now my 2nd) This May I planted 10 tomato plants, a row of 3 kinds of lettuce, 4 eggplants, 4 broccoli plants, a row of bell peppers, a row of onions, chives and garlic chives, 4 rows of carrots, 2 rows of beets, a row of herbs consisting of basil, sage, dill, parlsey, oregano, peppermint, spearmint, a row of spinach, 8 cucumber plants, 8 butternut squash plants, 8 potato plants, 2 rows of green beans, 2 rows of peas, a row of corn 8 watemelon plants, a row of zucchini, a plot with 25 strawberry plants and a rhubarb plant, a rasberry bush, blackberry bush and a blueberry bush---AND put up a fence around the main garden all in one day. What is too much for me, will be shared or given to the local soup kitchen.
Although it is a back breaking activity at my age, it is also very satisfying to pick and eat vegetables that God & I have been co-laborers together in creating. I suspect parents feel this way regarding watching their own children mature and come to fruition. Co-laboring with God in the production of life is an awesome thing. It is what we were created to do as humans. As an unmarried woman, however, I had never before experienced this strange yet wonderful satisfaction. The Bible tells us that co-laboring with God spiritually is also a wonderful way to take part in the production of life of the best kind-- eternal life. As such, the Scriptures use the garden as an allegory to speak of the human heart. We do what we are able, but ultimately, spiritual growth, and the growth of life in all forms, comes from God alone. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth..." says the apostle Paul regarding the life of his disciples. (1 Cor 3: 6) We must look to God to cause our growth.
I have noticed that every garden plant has a specific weed that grows near it that looks alot like the genuine thing. (called tares in Scripture) If one isn't careful when weeding, one can pluck up the real plant along with the imitation. For this reason, God cautions us that Satan has sown tares in among God's genuine people in the church. Only God knows for sure who is genuinely His and who is not. We are His garden, the plot of His planting, the sheep of His pasture, as another Scripture portrays us, in (Psalm 100:3) It is not for the plants to be judging the other plants around them to pluck them out. The Lord said we are to allow them to all grow up together until the harvest. At maturity, it will be apparent what was the real plant, and what was the false, for only the real plant will bear the intended fruit. And the Bible makes clear what the fruit is what will distinguish the true plants of God: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22) Notice the fruit is not, speaking in tongues, performing miracles, ability to quote Scripture, regular attendence in church or Sunday school, music ministry, or any other kind of 'good work'. It is the heart motivation and the way one goes about such works that will be the distinguishing factor. So, in the Harvest, the Lord will easily be able to tell His people from the tares of the AntiChrist. Though he and or his followers may perform many awesome deeds--even miracles, and know the Bible forwards and backwards, though they may even be prominent leaders in a church, the distinguishing mark will be the fruit they will bear before men. We are told to not believe every spirit, but test them.....(1 John 4:1) Are they gentle, or contentious; humble or proud; receive glory for themselves, or give glory to God; love God's people or hate their witness; glutonnous and given to fits of anger, or self-controlled and temperate in all things? These signs will hold good in both the Antichrist, as well as those who follow him. The Bible tells us that in Eden, the first Garden, God habitually walked with Adam in the cool of the day. (Genesis 3: 8) God's promise to His redeemed people, His garden, was even more intimate: that He would "dwell in them, and walk among them.." (2 Corinthians 6:16) If God is truely dwelling IN us, then the fruit of the Spirit will manifest itself through us, as we come to maturity. This was the 'sign' referred to by TE Brown in his poem above. The peace of the spirit was in his heart, teaching him the ways of God.
What sign, or fruit, do we have to assure us that God is walking with us in our gardens????
God wot!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern grot--
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not.--
Not God in gardens! When the sun is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign!
'Tis very sure God walks in mine.
- Thomas Edward Brown, My Garden
I read this poem almost 20 years ago, yet it is only in the last 3 years I have begun to plant a garden myself. (skipping last year, this is now my 2nd) This May I planted 10 tomato plants, a row of 3 kinds of lettuce, 4 eggplants, 4 broccoli plants, a row of bell peppers, a row of onions, chives and garlic chives, 4 rows of carrots, 2 rows of beets, a row of herbs consisting of basil, sage, dill, parlsey, oregano, peppermint, spearmint, a row of spinach, 8 cucumber plants, 8 butternut squash plants, 8 potato plants, 2 rows of green beans, 2 rows of peas, a row of corn 8 watemelon plants, a row of zucchini, a plot with 25 strawberry plants and a rhubarb plant, a rasberry bush, blackberry bush and a blueberry bush---AND put up a fence around the main garden all in one day. What is too much for me, will be shared or given to the local soup kitchen.
Although it is a back breaking activity at my age, it is also very satisfying to pick and eat vegetables that God & I have been co-laborers together in creating. I suspect parents feel this way regarding watching their own children mature and come to fruition. Co-laboring with God in the production of life is an awesome thing. It is what we were created to do as humans. As an unmarried woman, however, I had never before experienced this strange yet wonderful satisfaction. The Bible tells us that co-laboring with God spiritually is also a wonderful way to take part in the production of life of the best kind-- eternal life. As such, the Scriptures use the garden as an allegory to speak of the human heart. We do what we are able, but ultimately, spiritual growth, and the growth of life in all forms, comes from God alone. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth..." says the apostle Paul regarding the life of his disciples. (1 Cor 3: 6) We must look to God to cause our growth.
I have noticed that every garden plant has a specific weed that grows near it that looks alot like the genuine thing. (called tares in Scripture) If one isn't careful when weeding, one can pluck up the real plant along with the imitation. For this reason, God cautions us that Satan has sown tares in among God's genuine people in the church. Only God knows for sure who is genuinely His and who is not. We are His garden, the plot of His planting, the sheep of His pasture, as another Scripture portrays us, in (Psalm 100:3) It is not for the plants to be judging the other plants around them to pluck them out. The Lord said we are to allow them to all grow up together until the harvest. At maturity, it will be apparent what was the real plant, and what was the false, for only the real plant will bear the intended fruit. And the Bible makes clear what the fruit is what will distinguish the true plants of God: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22) Notice the fruit is not, speaking in tongues, performing miracles, ability to quote Scripture, regular attendence in church or Sunday school, music ministry, or any other kind of 'good work'. It is the heart motivation and the way one goes about such works that will be the distinguishing factor. So, in the Harvest, the Lord will easily be able to tell His people from the tares of the AntiChrist. Though he and or his followers may perform many awesome deeds--even miracles, and know the Bible forwards and backwards, though they may even be prominent leaders in a church, the distinguishing mark will be the fruit they will bear before men. We are told to not believe every spirit, but test them.....(1 John 4:1) Are they gentle, or contentious; humble or proud; receive glory for themselves, or give glory to God; love God's people or hate their witness; glutonnous and given to fits of anger, or self-controlled and temperate in all things? These signs will hold good in both the Antichrist, as well as those who follow him. The Bible tells us that in Eden, the first Garden, God habitually walked with Adam in the cool of the day. (Genesis 3: 8) God's promise to His redeemed people, His garden, was even more intimate: that He would "dwell in them, and walk among them.." (2 Corinthians 6:16) If God is truely dwelling IN us, then the fruit of the Spirit will manifest itself through us, as we come to maturity. This was the 'sign' referred to by TE Brown in his poem above. The peace of the spirit was in his heart, teaching him the ways of God.
What sign, or fruit, do we have to assure us that God is walking with us in our gardens????
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