Being a Gardener

As a small boy, my mum would bring me to my grandparents every Saturday, and I loved it. Grandpa was a keen gardener, and if the weather was good, I’d find him out working in the garden. I'd run out shouting “Grandpa, what are you doing today” and after a big hug, he would give me a job to do, so that I could “help” with what he was working on.

I remember once, Grandpa had stripped all the grass and clay away at the side of the house. He’d added fresh topsoil for a new lawn. We spent the best part of the day picking stones out of the soil. When we'd, (I really mean Grandpa had) finished gathering the stones, he worked the soil some more, and then he raked it level again. After this he began shuffling up and down the garden, keeping his heels together and weight back as he firmed up the soil. My job was to follow behind and tramp on the bits that Grandpa missed. Thinking back, we must have looked like two penguins walking up and down the garden!  Another rake, then the grass seed was sown by hand, “cast it out in an arc so that we don’t get bare patches”. Then some short sticks stuck into the ground for lines of string with foil batons attached to stop the birds from eating up the newly sown grass seed.

On another day Grandpa had built a bamboo frame for peas and beans to grow up. “Poke your finger into the soil, three times at each cane, finger depth, then drop one seed into each hole”. He even had a frame for Sweet Pea.

“Why are we growing Sweet Pea Grandpa?” I asked

“Oh, for lots of reasons, the flowers have a lovely fragrance, the bees love the flowers and so does Granny, she likes to put a posy of them on the kitchen table”.

Then come harvest time Grandpa would pick the beans and peas eating some raw, saying they were lovely and sweet,,,, I tried some,,,, yuck

Rows of deep furrows for the potatoes, manure at the bottom of each trench, full of nutrients to feed the young plants. As soon as the potato shoots would peek their head out of the soil, he would pull the soil up from the sides of the furrow and “put them back to bed again”, smiling as he said, “that way we get more potatoes”

When the seeds had grown into young plants in the cold frame, Grandpa would then transplant them into the vegetable patch. Rows of carrots, parsnips, beetroots, cabbages, and lettuce, all neatly spaced out and ordered in the finely tilled soil.

After this we,,, I mean he, would be out weeding, and it was no good just pulling the heads off, no. You have to take out the roots because they'll only grow back, and next time they'll be stronger! “and mind you don’t pull out a good plant!”

Why am I telling you this?

Remember when Jesus told the parable of the Sower out in the field in Matthew 13

³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

In the parable the seed represents the word of god and the different soil types the conditions of peoples hearts, But as any gardener knows all soild van be improved. So, if we are going to sow seed, God’s word that is, into the hearts of people, we need to be prepared to do some work and nurture the field that we'vw been given to work in!

We need to sharpen our ploughs so that we cut deep furrows into the hearts of those with hard hearts to make them receptive to the seed. And to help break up hard hearts even further, we need to plant ground-bursting transformative Word, just like seed potatoes, because it will do the work for us! Word such as the gospel truth that Jesus gave his life for our salvation, and we only need to believe in Him to be saved!

We need to enrich the soil by adding nutrients, so the seeds have all the nourishment they need to grow. The same as we receive in fellowship, prayer, and through practical support. We are called to help each other, none of us can grow strong if we stand alone.

Gather the stones out of the soil and increase the soil depth. Pull the weeds as soon as they appear, don't give them a chance to get established.

Then when our field is fully prepared, we should erect a scarecrow to drive the birds away. That man on a wooden cross who proclaims, “this is my field; no birds are welcome here” Does this thought remind you of anyone?

You know, none of us save anyone, only God can perform the work of salvation. All any of us really do, is toil the soil to improve it, and sow the seed, the word of God into peoples hearts, praying that it grows.

Have a great day, and God bless,

Trev.

PS: The photo below is my Grandpa out in his garden, (taken back in the 1960's)