Next spring, I’m planning to have a garden. Right now, however, I’m starting with a patch of grass.
For months I’ve been thinking, plotting, planning, sketching, tallying, and accumulating everything needed to turn that lawn into a fenced, fruitful garden. I’m constantly running ideas past my wife, mostly for moral support. She likes the garden idea, but she doesn’t necessarily need a dissertation on galvanized nails, economical fence pickets, or pressure-treated lumber. She trusts me to think it through, spend wisely, and build something attractive and durable. That trust is a blessing in itself.
Last night I stood at Lowe’s sorting through a few hundred fence pickets to select 55 good ones, and Luke 14:28 came to mind: before you build, count the cost.
That principle reaches far beyond lumber.
A successful Christian life doesn’t happen accidentally. Wouldn’t it be nice if Scripture worked by osmosis? Just hold your Bible long enough and suddenly Romans, Psalms, and Proverbs download themselves into your brain! Unfortunately, spiritual growth requires reading. Prayer. Time. Devotion. Commitment. Process.
This past weekend I rototilled the garden area, pulled out four or five wagonloads of grass and roots, then tilled everything three times until the soil was deep and loose. Afterward came another hour of hauling the mess away. I actually said out loud to myself, “This is a lot of work for tomatoes.”
It’s not just about planning and plowing…Cleanup is part of the process, too.
My father was an amazingly artistic, hardworking craftsman, but sometimes the project was finished while the tools and mess remained for weeks. I learned something from that: finishing well includes cleaning up.
So God is reminding me to embrace the whole process. Keep your eyes on the fruit. For me, that’s Michigan potatoes, Roma tomatoes, peas, beans, corn, beets, carrots, strawberries—and hopefully much more.
For the Christian, the harvest is greater still.
Keep digging. Keep planting. Keep growing. Wherever you are in the process, God is at the end of it—and one day we will enjoy the ultimate fruit of our labor: eternity with Christ.
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Your garden plot looks great, brother! Well done! I smiled when you said the exact dimensions (12’ X 26’), because that’s exactly what my late father, a very analytical math teacher, would have done. His garden was a perfect rectangle too!
The spiritual application is also spot on. Being a committed Christian takes hard work, including cleaning up. Your graphic at the end says it all again: count the cost and pay the cost to be a consistent follower of Jesus Christ.
PS. I’ve tilled, or helped till, a garden plot before. Why are there always rocks? At my house, every time I dig, it’s broken pieces of glass.
Blessings, brother!
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Thanks brother! I’m a bit of a perfectionist…the rocks always multiply! When I was a kid Dad would rototill and pull new rocks out all the time…our joke was that they grew like potatoes underground. I churned up a piece of old crock pottery but that’s about all that was interesting.
Thanks for the encouragement brother, am looking forward to more spiritual insights as the Lord allows me to build the garden.👍🏻🙌🙏
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I can already imagine the taste of ripe tomatoes! Keeping our eyes on the prize (starting with the end in mind) puts the focus on what matters most. Tidying up at the end reminds us that ending well is as important as getting the project done. Thank you!
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I hope the tomatoes taste a lot better than the dirt I was coughing out…🤣
Blessings to you Grant!
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Wow, that looks amazing! My husband and I put a patch of grass in our desert yard two years ago, and it was a lot of hard work. Several weekends of digging, tilling and pulling out rocks and, believe it or not, hundreds of nails! But, now it is an oasis for us and our grandkids to enjoy. When I have a stressful day at work, I come home and put my toes in the soft grass to relax. I know your garden will be a blessing to you. Great analogy to our Christian walk!
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Oh that sounds hard digging in dry desert dirt! But I’m glad you went through the process and can enjoy it! Thanks for sharing that!
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Excellent parable on being willing to pay the cost of faith and trusting Father God 👍Good work in the garden and in this post brother Eric. God bless you and your family today 🙏
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I love your garden’s symmetry! I expect your produce to follow suit. May the Lord bless you and your wife with green thumbs. 🙂
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