It's that time again. SPRING! A time when things bloom, grow, and we have exactly 32 days till the scorching summer heat is upon us in the southwest. Everywhere you look there are seed packets, vegetable starters and flowering plants. We all get that itch to dig in the ground, clean up the backyard and drink lemonade. My son always loved to garden and grow things from the earth. I loved the planting and harvesting, but not so much the watering. But since my son will be home from college in 3 weeks, I decided my grandson and I would plant a garden, and Quinn could take over the rest........
Enter my grandson. Spunky, imaginative, and inquisitive 3 year old that he is. He loves a shovel, garden gloves and those pretty little seed packets that magically turn into food to eat. So the other day I declared "planting day". We got our shovels out and prepare the ground, raking away old leaves and debris. We are just finishing up the prep, when his little sister steps in dog poop. Ooops. So I carry her off to the house to wash her feet. I no sooner got her feet washed in the sink, when my grandson enters the threshold of the backdoor announcing, "I did it Grandma! I planted the seeds!" I look over to see that he is holding a seed packet that contained beans. Well, that's not so bad at least he only planted one packet. "Okay honey, I'm coming right out to help you with the rest." However, as soon as I get out the door I notice it. All the seed packets torn open and laying empty on the ground. So I ask him where he put the seeds? In nice little rows I am dreaming. "I just threw them all in the garden, isn't that great?" And it was. Every plant that grows will be a mystery, a wonderful surprise, handcrafted by my grandson. I have to smile at the beautiful thought.
We water the garden with the hose and are cleaning up our mess when my grandson brings me a corn seed. He holds out this kernel as if it is a precious treasure. "Grandma, we just put these seeds in the dirty ground and watered it with dirty water, won't we get corn that is all dirty and yucky?" And I realize where his rationalization is coming from, so I explain that the seed will produce a tall stalk and the corn will grow from that near the top, it wont be in the dirt. This is the best I can do under the circumstances. He looks at me and says, "interesting, very interesting." Again I laugh.
But his thought process is not all wrong. How many times have I told my children that "you are who you hang out with." "pick your friends wisely" and "garbage in, garbage out" If we surround our hearts and lives with things that are rotten, eventually we too will become contaminated in our thinking and actions. I'm sure that my grandson in his three short years has already understood that to keep a body healthy we have to eat things that are good for us. As much as it pains me, a diet based on ding dongs and candy bars does not make my body strong and beautiful.
When Jesus said in Philippians 4:8 "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is worthy of praise think about such things," I believe he meant to not hang out in the dirt. While God guards our hearts, we are commanded to keep our focus on things that please God. That may mean making a decision to not hang out with people who use coarse language, if we find ourselves starting to do the same. It means not subjecting our heart and thoughts to movies that objectify woman or encourage revenge, judgement and glorify deception. It means choosing wisely where to invest our time and ultimately our passion.
I never want to put myself in a position to be desensitized to things that displease God. I want to be on alert, and part of that is to stay away from the poison that can infect my heart. Our hearts are like a garden in that respect. What we sow will bear fruit when properly tended to. But if we do not plant good seeds, or if we neglect good seeds, surely weeds will sprout and take over.
It really doesn't matter if the "good seeds" of your life are all in neat little rows. Some of us have lives that are messy and cluttered and we are simply doing the best that we can. What does matter is that you are placing them there and have things growing that will bear fruit.