I found these stories about two very different gardens to be enlightening:
Story One
This year's garden has to be the best one we've ever had. Everything is growing like weeds (except the weeds are actually under control). The radishes came in much faster than we expected, and now the harvesting has begun. Cukes, squash, and basil are already coming in (with a few hopeful basil plants from seed that look forward to a new spot in the garden). The tomatoes are loaded! The green beans are full of blooms, and the okra is just where it needs to be. We have not had to water at all because the rain comes just in time.
Even better is the fact that we have been able to share the garden with others. Just yesterday, we had fresh herbs and veggies for supper with friends and were able to make a couple loaves of zucchini bread -- YUM! Friends have also made the garden easier to manage this year as we have had help from people hailing as far away as India, China ... even KENTUCKY! Even if we get nothing else from our garden, we have already been truly blessed.
Story Two
Wouldn't you know it, our garden is just a mess this year. Grass is EVERYWHERE! I wish I had weeds because they are easier to pull up than this infernal Bermuda Grass. I think that's part of the problem we've had so far this year. Of course, the radishes came up -- so hot that no one has been able to eat even part of one without gasping for breath. But along with the radishes came the grass and the bugs -- THE BUGS!!! I have already found squash bug eggs on the zucchini, and my wife and I have both found Mexican Bean Beetles on our green beans (they ate all the green beans before we could stop them last year). We might be able to keep the grass under control except for the rain. Every time we have the opportunity to work in the garden, it rains just hours before.
What's worse is that our kids show little interest at all in the garden this year. We use weeding (actually pulling grass) as a threat for punishment. Doesn't matter though, I seem to be a little "gardening impaired" this year, anyway. I have broken okra off at the ground, chopped down bean bushes, driven stakes through soaker hoses....I did not plant the peppers in a place for them to thrive like I wanted, and the few basil seeds we sowed that actually came up are going to die in the shade of the tomato plants. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had forgotten this crazy idea of a garden!
Here's the part I like: both gardens are the same garden! That's right. Both stories easily describe the little slice of Eden/Hades that I have intentionally planted beside the house. Each story is true, depending on the way I choose to look at the world and my place in it. Honestly, there are days when 'story two' tries to creep into my mind. The discouragement, the pessimism, and the cynicism are always ready to leap into service even before I call their names. But the Apostle Paul, I believe, would like 'story one' the best. In Philippians 4:8 he wrote,
"Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse." [The Message Translation]
Yes, things can be difficult, but God is with us and works for good in our lives (Romans 8:28). There is always more to celebrate than to commiserate. There is more given in grace than given for grumbling. There is always more life in Christ than loss in the world. So, I choose, today, to walk in the first garden -- the vision of things the way that God intends them. I will see the goodness, the grace, the extension of friendship and fellowship, and thank my God who provides them all (James 1:17).
Grace and Peace,
