Thanks to Lou for these beautiful seasonal thoughts.
I love harvest! It always makes me think of two things. Thankfulness for all God has provided, and a harvest of people.
Mark 4 verses 1-20 reads: “Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
This year, I’ve grown more in my garden than I ever have, and my plants have been teaching me some lessons. I know most people know far more about gardening than I ever will, I mean, I even managed to kill a spider plant once! I think there’s something to be learnt from each of the things I’ve grown this year. All plants need certain things to make them grow, good soil, and the right type of soil, light, water, room to grow, and probably many more things. Likewise, for us to grow in our relationship with God, there are several things we need. We need to read our bibles and be fed by God’s word; his word is like the nutrients in the soil. We need a prayer relationship with him, that’s a bit like the daily watering of a plant, but whereas you can over water a plant, you can never pray too much. We also need support from our church and from other Christians.
I’ve grown sweet peas for a few years now. I planted the seeds in March, they each had their own plastic party cup! It would have done no good to just scatter the seeds on my patio, as they would have blown away or been eaten by the birds, just like those who hear God’s Word and then Satan takes it away. I had to make sure there was enough compost in each cup, so the roots of the plant could become long enough, and strong enough to support the plant, so that when they were planted outside, the wind wouldn’t blow them away, or the sun wouldn’t dry them up and kill them. If we don’t have deep roots in our faith, we are not able to withstand the storms of life when they come. One week later, they had all, apart from one, come up through the soil. They continued to grow, but they were getting tall and floppy, I was advised to pinch the tops out of them, so they would spread out a bit. They had a mini pruning, to strengthen them and make them more fruitful. They went outside in the daytime next, to get them acclimatized. Just like new Christians shouldn’t be thrown into church and expected to get on with it and know what to do. I kept a careful eye on my babies as I called them. Following this they were planted in the troughs in my garden. I still kept a close eye on them, especially as the temperature suddenly dropped at night, so I wrapped them up in bubble wrap. Then they started to grow taller. They needed encouragement to climb up their sticks, just as God encourages us to grow in our faith and our trust in him. I had two lovely displays of sweet peas. When they were going over, I collected seeds from some of them. I originally planted 25 seeds, and I could have easily collected five times that amount if I’d chosen to and cared for them properly. When we share God’s word, we are sowing seeds in people’s lives.
We’ll go on to my jasmine next. I’ve had it for years at the bottom of my garden, but it’s never flowered as lovely as it did this year. Sometimes the seed is sown, and all the right support and conditions are there, but for some reason, it takes years to flower. People can also be this way. We should never be discouraged and give up when those we love don’t seem to want to know the Lord, if we keep praying, one day they might enter into that relationship with God and flower.
My lavenders come next. I think I was afraid of overwatering them, so I under watered them. You can guess what happened in all that lovely weather, they died. I have new ones now. But if we don’t read God’s word, pray, and have a relationship with him, we dry up and become dead in our faith. I ended up with an extra lavender, so I planted it in a pot where I’d had night stock, which had gone over. Well, the night stock decided to grow again, and they have surrounded my lavender. Because that lavender is fighting for space and nutrients in that soil, it’s not going to do as well as the plants which have a pot to themselves. When distractions, worries and many other things take over our minds and our hearts, and our full focus isn’t on God, he can’t feed us with the nutrients of his Word, and we are unable to strengthen our relationship with him.
For the first time this year, I had an herb table. I had the idea of what I wanted it to look like, and my Dad made it for me. I have six rectangular pots on there, each containing a different herb. Chamomile, coriander, Basil, oregano, chives, and dill. Some need more water than others, some need more sunlight, but they all grew, and they are all useful. Just as I wouldn’t make tea out of chives, or put chamomile in a pasta bake, God has a unique path for each of us. We are not to compare ourselves to others, or judge others by what we think they should be doing. We all have different gifts and abilities.
I’m ashamed to mention the shrub I nearly killed. I was watering it regularly, but not checking it, as I failed to notice the pot wasn’t draining and it sort of got flooded. The leaves went yellow, and it looked like it was going to die, but Mum helped me sort it out, by putting something in the bottom of the pot so the drainage holes wouldn’t get blocked. We dried the compost out as best we could. The dead leaves have fallen off, but the flowers are still alive, and I think it might make it! Sometimes we find ourselves in places which aren’t healthy for us. Some situations draw us away from God. We need to recognise those situations for what they are and remove ourselves from them. God can’t feed us with his word if we are slopping about in unhealthy soil.
I’m going to talk about Mum’s hydrangea plant, which came through my fence so I could enjoy it in my garden too. Last year, she gave it a good pruning, cutting it right back. It seems rather cruel to do such a thing, but this year it was better than ever, with lots of lovely flowers. It looked like a big ball of pink. Pruning in our lives is never pleasant. We don’t know why hard things happen and things are taken away, but God will strengthen us if we allow him to.
Finally, there were my beans. I liked the idea of growing some vegetables and I was given four French bean plants. I put them in a pot, watered them every day, but otherwise left them to it. I didn’t know when to expect the beans. One day, Mum came into my garden. I was doing something and not taking any notice of what she was doing. She said to me, hold out your hand. I did and she gave me a handful of beans. 24 of them to be precise! I think my reaction was something like, ooh! Beans! I was quite excited to have them. If I could be excited about 24 little beans, just imagine how much God rejoices when one of his people comes to know him, or takes a step of faith, or draws nearer to him in some way.
We have God’s word planted in each of us, I pray the soil and growing conditions will be right in our lives so that we can be strong in our faith and produce a good crop.