...And Sow It Begins

Today was my first day in the garden. I have spent the past few weeks reading about gardening; planning which plants I want to grow and where they will go in the garden; and, shopping for implements and seeds.  Today I got dirty.  Like an eager student on the first day of school, I packed up my supplies and headed for the freshly tilled plot that will be my gardening classroom. 

The garden is a piece of fertile earth about 10 feet wide by 20 feet long which allows me to plant 10 rows of a variety of vegetables.  My task today was to stake out the rows that will become my crop of tomatoes, beans, various kinds of squash, peppers, cucumbers, onions, beets, carrots, radishes, spinach and lettuces, okra and eggplant.  I was also able to plant some seeds for the cooler weather crops like onions, carrots and spinach.  I made furrows in the dirt where I deposited seeds of all shapes and sizes; some were round while others were flat and the arugula seeds were no bigger than the fine ground black pepper that resembles the arugula peppery taste.  Planting the purple, white and yellow onion sets was like putting them to bed, nestling them in the soft cradle of earth and covering them with a blanket of warm soil with a firm pat, tucking them in for good measure.

As I gathered up my gardening tools and brushed off the dirt from my boots, I looked back at my garden to consider the work I had just done as well as the remaining plants that will go in the ground.  Honestly, right now it doesn’t look like much other than some soil, some wooden stakes and some string.  No one could imagine that in time plant life will begin to emerge...the feathery green leaves of the carrots or their long pointed orange roots hidden deep beneath the earth or the tender smooth oval, green leaves of the spinach to come.  No one would be able to tell that there are dozens of bulbs under ground that will soon send bright green stalks signaling the presence of pungent onions that will one day be sliced on a hamburger or carmelized for a quiche.  My garden looks lifeless right now, yet it is so full of promise.

Next week is Holy Week.  Once again, the faithful will make the pilgrimage with Jesus from Jerusalem to Calvary, and then to garden tomb.  The disciples on Good Friday could not have imagined Jesus risen from the dead on Easter Sunday.  When the large stone was rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb, it didn’t look like much; all anyone saw was a big rock that indicated that Jesus’ life must be over.  Yet, that garden was full of promise, too...the promise of new life to come with his glorious resurrection...the deeply held and beautiful promise of my faith. 

Natalie Sleeth wrote one of my favorite hymns that expresses the promise of new life in Jesus Christ so beautifully:

In the bulb there is a flower, in the seed an apple tree;

In cocoons, a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter, there’s a spring that waits to be,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

My garden holds a hidden promise.  Unrevealed until its season, I wait and hope for something right now God alone can see.