God’s Garden Within Us

“(Jesus) began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them, ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow…’” (Mark 4:2-3). My internship was in beautiful rural western Ohio. Most of the county was farm land, primarily corn, soy bean and turkey. It’s something altogether different seeing nice, neat rows of corn and beans growing; and then there’s the sowing that the sower does in Jesus’ famous parable. In fact, I had one farmer come up to me and say, ‘God was not a modern farmer.’

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Truly God is not the kind of farmer we think we need to be. In Genesis, as God begins creation and start doing; God literally starts doing. The Hebrew word for create in Genesis 1 is bar - ra’; and this word has the connotation of playing in mud or potting or playing with Playdough™. God wanted to be creative and make life, so God did! God is also the giver of life. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul emphasizes to that church: It doesn’t matter who brought you or nurtured your faith; “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose… because we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building” (3:6-8a, 9).

As I write to you all, I cannot help but ask these questions:
What is God planting in us?   What is God watering in us?   What is God growing in us?
          

It’s important to note that God has been doing this work already. None of this is new. However, perhaps we can think of this current work of God as this year’s, this season’s work.

Planting: Within each of us, God is always sowing and planting the hopes, dreams, and visions of God’s reign. Each thing that happens in our life is another opportunity for God to plant within us the experience of God’s love, grace, and embrace such that eternal life will spring up from deep within us and climb higher than even God expects it to. When good things happen, God plants. Whenever bad things happen in our lives, God is still planting. Whenever we think God isn’t in a situation; God is there planting something so deep it’s hard to believe.

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Watering: It’s not just enough to be nice to someone, though certainly there are benefits to positive and negative stimuli. How does God water those seedlings within us? Each other. The Scriptures. Prayer. The Spirit! What God uses to nurture us in our faith, in our community, in our daily lives is not a mystery; and yet, how the God goes about that work is still shrouded in mystery right now to us. I love the story, The Garden by Arnold Lobel. In the story, Toad notices that his friend Frog is gardening and wants to join in. So, borrowing some seeds, Toad plants and waters and begins to shout at, “Now seeds, start growing.” Our problem is that we want results instantly after watering. But, that’s not how it works. Remember, God is not like a sower or farmer like we are.

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Growing: Growth comes in many forms. Quantity. Quality. Change. Growth happens within each of us over time. And our time is not God’s time. Reread that last sentence. (And our time is not God’s time.) Toad wanted a garden almost instantly after watering the seeds from Frog. The way he’s doing it though is not helping. While he does read to them, sing to the seeds, and even watches over them; I have a sneaky feeling Frog really just wanted Toad to give them some time. And sure enough, his garden did grow! So too, I encourage all of us to those things that we know help us be rooted in God’s growth: Community, Scripture, Prayer, Worship and Service.

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God is not a gardener like us; that is true. What we also know is that God is giving room for us all to grow: to grow together, to grow in the quality of our baptismal identities, and to grow in the reach of our community! Be on the lookout for how God is doing this work; and discern sharing with me, with others and you’ll starting seeing the garden of the kingdom grow!