Garden Soil

Since planting some vegetables in pots on our large patio last week, I have happily fallen into my normal summer routine of peeking out the window first thing in the morning, with high expectations of observing new and continued growth.  We have been experiencing some overcast lasting into the early afternoon for the last couple of days which has helped to lessen the shock of transplanting for the small upstarts.  So even though it has only been a few days, the tiny plants are looking deep green and healthy and are giving me a great vision of delicious sliced tomatoes and many side dishes of sautéed or fried or stewed zucchini!

In my years of gardening I have come to discover that the soil makes all the difference.  One of the best gardens that we ever had was when we lived in my Grandmother’s old home when we had just began having our family.  My Grandmother had lived alone and never really did much with the backyard except to care for the few fruit trees that were left over from the neighborhood’s original beginnings as a prune orchard.  When we moved in I immediately began to work a sunny section of the yard for our garden.  It took a few years of toil, the addition of new soils, sand and fertilizers but resulted in rows of tall green stalks of corn, large zucchini bushes, frames of string beans, lettuce, various tomato bushes, and other selected vegetables that we experimented with over the six years we lived there.

Last year I planted a few tomato plants in large pots filled with expensive potting soil on the deck in our current home and had great success.  This year I replaced the old soil with a new batch, removed the bottom branches of the tomatoes and buried them about a third of the way up their stems.  The young man at the nursery assured me that this would cause the plants to develop a strong base that would enable them to get a good start and yield positive growth with lots of fruit.

Yesterday when I was outside “tending” to my garden I thought about how the planting of my tomatoes was like the scripture in Ephesians 3:17 where Paul prays “that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have your foundation.”  (God’s Word ©)  The “love” that he is talking about is “agape” love, or the God kind of love.  It is the very nature of God working in us, for us and through us.  He completes his thought on this subject by stating that this type of foundation will cause us to “be completely filled with God.”  (Ephesians 3:19 God’s Word ©)

Just as the expensive soil that I have been successfully using as the foundation for my healthy and productive vegetables, the foundation of God’s love will also cause us to live productive and successful lives.  It is a soft and rich soil that will allow our roots to sink deeply into the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of our heavenly Father, thereby guaranteeing us a bountiful harvest of the fruits of the Spirit.  (See: Galatians 5:22)

So I would encourage you today to put on your gardening gloves and begin to dig down deep into the good ground of His love “which goes far beyond any knowledge.”  (Ephesians 3:19 God’s Word ©)  Then get ready - for the harvest is coming!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”