Confessions of an Early Gardener

It's that time of year again; time to plant. But if I'm honest, this year I'm not really into it, which is strange, because most of the time I can't wait. I look through seed catalogues, wander through nurseries full of bedding plants thinking and dreaming of all that this year's garden could be. That's how it is most years, but for some reason this year is different. Maybe its because I made the mistake of putting out rye grass last fall to perk up my parched lawn, and after a few rains, I am now faced with mowing the yard in January! It kind of takes the stuffing out, if you know what I mean. This year, for some reason, it just seems like a lot of work, which I wonder if I really need.

But that put me in mind of one of Paul's gardening metaphors from I Corinthians. In chapter 3, he speaks to those who would split the church by following him, or Apollos, or someone else, thinking they are the superior teachers. What Paul says is this, "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (I Cor 3:5-7)

I guess the point I am after here is that even though I work the soil, even though I plant the seeds, even though I water and weed and till and toil, I really don't have the hard job. God is the one who makes things grow. As much as I may want to cause growth, and take the credit, I can only encourage growth. God makes it happen.

This is also true in the spiritual life, or the life of faith. Sometimes we think that we are responsible for our own growth, that we make it happen by reading, praying, singing or whatever. But we don't. Just like in the church, we can only encourage growth, God makes it happen. I think that can be a very freeing thought. Sure, I am still responsible to feed my soul with prayer, worship and the Word, but I can't cause the growth, I can only nurture it. It's not up to me: it's up to God. No doubt some of the greatest mistakes in the Christian life are made when we try to do God's job.

This year, I believe I'll let God do his job, and I'll do mine. Maybe I will plant a few early greens - after all, God has the hard job, I just stick them in the ground.