The Genesis

Sometimes you just have to begin, even when you are unsure of what you are doing or what the outcome will be.  You have to play the first note to create a symphony.  You have to crack an egg to bake a cake. You have to run that first mile of a marathon race.  Whatever it is, every endeavor has a starting point.  So, with these five sentences I begin something.  This paragraph that I have just written is the genesis of something new for me.  Here it is...my first blog post.  

I am embarking on another new experience this Spring.  I am going to plant a garden.  I have never had a garden of my own.  The closest that I have come to gardening is through others.  I have wonderful summertime memories of picking peppers, squash and tomatoes from my parents’ and grandparents’ and even great-grandparents’ gardens.  I also have fond recollections of my dear father-in-law working for hours in his expansive garden.  One of my last and most special remembrances is of him tending the pot of cherry tomatoes I planted for him during the last summer of his life.  Yet, until now, I have never cultivated my very own garden.

When my sweet neighbor Kim offered me part of her garden patch that she was planning to let go fallow, I thought “why not?”  It will be an adventure.  Something new for me to learn in these middle years of my life. Another great way to enjoy the outdoors.  And, I can grow some vegetables for our summer table as well as to share with the church’s food pantry.  I gratefully (and somewhat nervously) accepted her offer.

The first time I heard the Parable of the Soils was probably also the first time I ever planted anything.  It was in Mrs. Emmons’ Sunday School class.  She read the story that Jesus told about a farmer scattering the seed.  Then she gave us all a Dixie cup filled with some black dirt.  She put tiny marigold seeds in our hands.  We sprinkled them on top of the dirt, stuck a popsicle stick with our name on it into the cup and left them to sprout in a sunny window.  When the next Sunday came, we all ran to the window to see tiny stems poking through the dirt and tender green leaves reaching toward the lip of the cup.  It was a holy mystery to behold.

So, I am starting a garden not really sure what I am doing or what the outcome will be.  I will dig in the dirt, plant some seeds, pull some weeds, pray for rain and, hopefully, harvest some goodness to eat.  Along the way, I will write about this new experience and what I learn about God’s amazing creation, including myself.  Anyone who is interested enough or brave enough or maybe just bored enough is invited to follow along this gardening adventure with me.  My hope is that scattering the seed will bring a holy mystery for one and all to behold.