Things To Plant

It is suddenly summer gardening season and the evidence is everywhere. The farmers markets, grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. all have flowers and vegetables for sale.  They have even sold out of some already.  Gardening to one extent or another is engaged in by most people this time of year.  Some plant a few annuals in the flower beds around their houses, while others plant vegetable gardens, some small (a couple of tomato plants), others large enough to feed the entire neighborhood.  There is something about growing a garden that people find enjoyable, some maybe even therapeutic.

I have an anonymous poem about the spiritual garden everyone needs to plant.  It reads as follows:

First plant four rows of peas.
Prayer,
Perseverence,
Politeness,
Purity.

Next plant three rows of squash.
Squash criticism,
Squash gossip,
Squash indifference.

Then five rows of lettuce.
Let us be faithful to duty,
Let us be unselfish,
Let us be truthful,
Let us follow Christ,
Let us follow one another.

No garden is complete without turnips.
Turn up for church,
Turn up with a smile,
Turn up with new ideas,
Turn up with determination,

To make everything count for something good and worthwhile.

What kind of garden are you planting this spring?  Paul wrote that we reap as we sow (see Galatians 6:7,8).  What can you expect to reap when the last great day comes?

—Denny