Thoughts from an August Garden

It has happened again! My garden has suffered a collision with the month of August. Allow me to explain. During the early Spring months I look forward to planting the annual vegetable and flower gardens on our property. I usually plan things out, sometimes even drawing out a sketch of how and where to plant things. I evaluate where plants were last year, how they did, how things could be improved, what takes up the most room, what needs protection from nibbling varmits, etc. Then comes the fun part – preparing the soil, planting the seed, transplanting the plants and watching things take root and grow.

Things usually go swimmingly up until August. I enjoy the ongoing cultivation, don’t even mind the weeding, and certainly have fun inviting the grandsons in to help with the harvest of various fruits and vegetables. Youngest grand Jon loves to help water, and oldest grand Oliver has long been a garden buddy. They each take joy, Elliott included, in carrying a fresh squash or tomato into their Lolly or Momma. But come August, after days of sweltering heat, periods of no rain – and, to be honest a little neglect on my part – the garden looks a bit sad.

Here’s the current state of things this August, as well as a recounting of the season thus far:

• The tomato plants have suffered a blight, resulting in dying vines, small and limited fruit.
• The yellow summer squash have mostly played out. While their early production was good, they struggle to survive in mid-summer’s heat.
• I’ve planted pole beans three times over. The rabbits have had a heyday nibbling them off as they sprout. Finally relocated them into the fenced portion of the garden and they are hitting their prime.
• Meanwhile bush beans have provided two pickings with another due.
• Should have used reliable seed potatoes instead of just cutting up a left over potato from the fridge. Did get some “new potatoes” but by and large a bust.
• The jury is still out on the carrot patch. They’re growing in length and girth, and with some additional thinning we just may have something.
• Sunflowers did great! Early lettuce and radishes did equally well. Strawberry patch is beginning to come into its own with another year’s growth and spread.
• Flowers have been a delight, including a maturing pollinator section, and two small “Hogan wedding plots” that are just beginning to bloom, from seed packets shared at Thomas and Lucy’s June wedding. Love watching the birds in these spaces.

I realize, unless you are gardener, the above summary may seem a bit dull. But over my years of getting my hands, and other parts, in the dirt, I have so often found gardening the perfect metaphor to faith, ministry, and congregational life. Jesus often used the language of the earth in his parables to make a point, or cause his audience to reflect. Remember the parable of the soil or sower? How about the mustard seed? Or, the weeds and the wheat? (Read through Matthew 13 to remind yourself of these parables). Then there’s the fig tree, the vineyard workers, the vine and the branches – so much garden, agricultural imagery is to be found in the teaching of Jesus.

Can’t you imagine Jesus pointing out the state of His garden? “It’s happened again! My garden has hit the month of August. That church in midtown seems to have a blight of some kind. X congregation was thriving and producing so much fruit, but boy have they trailed off. Resurrection Church is really coming back to life! Living Water seems like it could use some water. Then there’s the Vineyard congregation that I’m afraid is dying on the vine! But, with some new fertilizer, a little cultivation, some loving care and maybe a fresh gardener to work among them – just maybe there’s hope?”

Sure, it’s just imaginative speculation on my part, but think about it. If you are a plant in God’s garden, or in the Kingdom landscape, what kind of visual message are you presenting? If the church you participate with is a subplot of Jesus’ kingdom grounds, does it resemble the top of the line care you see at Disney or Universal; or the run down countenance of an understaffed, non-motivated grounds crew?

The hopefulness of this garden metaphor, for me, is that gardens flourish with the right care. Even dead or dying gardens can be brought back to life. Tired gardens can be pruned and cultivated, fertilized and watered. New growth is possible in the cultivation of our faith. And we know a Gardener, or Vinedresser who does not easily (if ever) give up.

I used to think my dream job was to be a gardener in some fancy theme park where the beauty of the landscaping accentuates the experience in subtle and not so subtle ways. That’s probably not going to happen, but the truth is I’ve spent my lifetime working in God’s garden. It continues to be such rewarding work.

Final Thoughts: In the beginning God put humans (man and woman) in the garden and asked them to care for it. At the end of days the new heaven and earth, with the new Jerusalem, will have an urban garden watered by the river of life, adorned with the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit each month, with leaves for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more (no more weeds!). (See Revelation 22). (And) “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it”.