So you want to start a garden? Hallelujah! I am overjoyed at your decision, so excited that you are opting into the marvelous garden life! It is thrilling all-over again that the idea of tending and keeping a garden has won another heart to grow good things from the ground up.
Before digging in, may I ask, what is it, exactly, that you hope for in starting a garden…?
…to spend time outdoors and be refreshed under the open sky?
…to spend time away from “screens” — computers, phones, and video games?
…to keep fears, worries, anxieties, at bay; that is…
…to seek peace?
…to find simple beauty, to create something pretty to look at?
…to save money on organic produce?
…to have a project to work on with your family?
…ooops, to have a project that helps escape your family, LOL?!?
…how about a measure of the epic in your everyday??
All of the above have always been vital to our lives, yet all the more so now, as we continue to shelter in place. Despite these significant reasons to start a garden, let me spell out the most important one: Time with God.
Nothing will be more gripping, soothing, healing, life-filling, and productive than the appointment you make, so to speak, with God in your garden. Sure, the rendezvous is disguised as daily watering, weeding, pruning, planting, harvesting, warding off pests, and did I mention weeding? Yet through this methodical, manual labor, your mind will be free to talk to God, and your heart will be humbled to listen.
All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.
1 Corinthians 7:35 The Message
Make it a sanctuary, a meeting place with the Master Gardener himself. O my, look how the distractions have been cleared away!! Let your mind wander into the truths He has hidden in the land, and let your heart follow. Do not miss the most amazing mystery of the garden: the Lord God who planted the first garden is waiting to meet you in yours!
God…is the beauty behind everything beautiful, the joy behind everything joyful, the delight behind everything delightful, and if you really begin to see that and experience it, it will change you.
—Pastor Barry Jones, Irving Bible Church FB Live, April 21, 2020
The Eternal God planted a garden in the east in Eden—a place of utter delight—and placed the man whom He had sculpted there.
Genesis 2:8 The Voice™
You have plenty to do ahead! Turning the soil, searching seed catalogs… link here to the National Garden Bureau for good practices on getting started. First, however, look over the place of your future garden and linger in His Words:
God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
Psalm 46:1 GNT
He relieved me from my distress. He delivered me because He delighted in me.
2 Samuel 22:20 Aramaic Bible
You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers, for decking us out in delight.
Psalm 5:12 The Message
The Lord is happy with his people. He did a wonderful thing for his humble people. He saved them!
Psalm 145:4 ERV
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 NIV
“I leave behind with you—peace; I give you my own peace and my gift is nothing like the peace of this world. You must not be distressed and you must not be daunted…”
John 14:27
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Let them make a sanctuary for me so I may live among them.
Exodus 25:8 ISV
People will exclaim, “Why, this weed patch has been turned into a Garden of Eden!
Ezekiel 36:35 The Message
HAPPY GARDENING!
And may the Lord grant you success!
The National Garden Bureau celebrates 100 years of educating and inspiring home gardeners. I’m proud to be a member! Discover more about gardening at www.ngb.org
Hear my pastor’s devotion on Genesis 2 including his view of the garden in Delight! Irving Bible Church FB Live April 21, 2020
Enjoy a new category of Devotions Blogs, collected to help you Start a Garden
Photo Credits:
©2020 Shelley S. Cramm
I’m reading through your Gardeners Bible.. Thanks for that. I’m loving it..
Patricia Ann, so glad to hear it!! Enjoy your reading and may God fill you with His grace and a special time each day!
Dear Shelley,
Your blog is totally beautiful, as always!! Your “Start a Garden” with pics, info and I Cor. 7:35 are so precious. I love your thoughts about gardening as a meeting place with our Master Gardener!! Yes, hallelujah!! Your blog is such a ‘positive message’ to readers with all that is going on with the virus here and around the world..
Wonderful message again, Shelley!!
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”