“Gardening forces you to be in the moment, to deal with what is happening in the here and now. Plants can’t fake it like human beings can. They don’t tell you everything is fine if it isn’t.” (Judith Handelsman, Growing Myself: A Spiritual Journey Through Gardening)
Some folks compare gardening to the Christian Life. The hardest part of gardening is keeping weeds out. The hardest part of living the Christian life is keeping sin out. Like sin, weeds spread like fire. Weeds want to overtake plants, flowers and trees and keep the sun out. The enemy wants to keep the Son of God out of our lives via sins, busyness, suffering and worries. (Nelson Haynes)
“Experience teaches that love of flowers and vegetables is not enough to make a man a good gardener. He must also hate weeds.” (Burton Hillis)
Plant food provides additional nurturing for flowers and plants besides the rain and the sun. Time alone with God is our spiritual food. You will not survive the Christian life if you excuse yourself from that spiritual discipline and nourishment. (Nelson Haynes)
Yeah, even though God’s Word does say in Isaiah 40:8 that “The grass withers and the flowers fade…”——-it still is rewarding to watch plants and flowers grow and bloom. When I see their beauty it makes me smile, no matter how crummy the day. I think of my Creator. (Nelson Haynes)
“If we look with the right eyes, listen with the right ears, we will understand the natural creation as a form of sign language through which God expresses Himself.” (Windows of the Soul, Ken Gire)
“The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.” (Heda Bejar)
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” (David Bly)
“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” (from Paul’s book I Corinthians 3:7, NLT)
“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.” (Charles D. Warner)
“In our search for God, Nature is one of the places we look and one of the places He looks for us, reaches to us, speaks to us.” (Windows of the Soul, Ken Gire)
“What seems like ashes in your life can be the actual fertilizer that grows your life. Souls grow moist in soil made rich by ashes. Fire makes a fertilizer for growth, and ashes can be the best soil for the best soul growth.” (Ann Voskamp: The Way of Abundance)
pictures courtesy of “Nelson & his Nikon”