Gardens are so easy to do well. You just go outside, rake the ground a little, throw in a few seeds and in no time at all with very little effort you have delicious fruits and vegetables or beautiful flowers.

If you have ever tried your hand at gardening, you know that the statements above are very far from the truth. That would explain why most people get their vegetables from cans (if they eat them at all) and their flowers from the flower shop.

Gardening requires a good deal of passion, dedication and devotion. I seem to have a lot of these at planting time, but it fizzles in the very hot days of summer and soon my passion turns to anguish. Right now there are lovely morning glories all over one of my flower beds. They are pretty but it had to know that they thrive by choking the life out of those perennials that I paid for. I hope some day to be more diligent with the maintenance. But isn't that just like life?

God just speaks to me in the garden. I don't hear His voice share "Master gardening" tips or anything like that. But I recall the principles of the Bible that I have been taught since I was a young child.

People who lived when the Bible was written (though it was over many hundreds of years if you consider both old and new testaments) were a farming people. They understood the illustrations from creation very well. It was practical knowledge. The stories were parabolic -- whether it was Isaiah sharing something from nature or Jesus telling the parable of the sower.

My gardening always begins by having the courage to try to restore what the winter weeds have taken. That's a great lesson all by itself right there!

I always get started a little late. I see the greening of the earth in spring and finally get inspired. I was not farsighted enough to think of spring when it was still winter. Then I have to convince my reluctant gardener children to help me since I am not as healthy as I once was.

So from the start we are playing beat the clock with the sun. The tender young bedding plants will be challenged by the long summer days. At this point I hear echoes of Ecclesiastes 3:1 which says, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." I guess that I am kind of out of season already! But that is okay. This just causes me to pray that my efforts will not be wasted.

God is God and He can do whatever He chooses. I acknowledge this and ask Him to help me and again I hear a promise. From 2 Corinthians 12:9 "But He (God, that is) said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." I feel sure this can be applied -- in a broader sense of our humanity -- to gardening. His grace IS sufficient for me!

Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the earth declares His handywork." Here is a summary of some of the things I come across every time I attempt this gardening thing. They are things that bear out this truth in Psalm 19.

Weeds - Upon approach, weed seems to be everywhere. It is overwhelming! But after you pull the first few and begin to see the earth again, the battle already seems less uphill. The tops often spread far from one tiny root (like crabgrass). If the ground is hard they may seem impossible. Wait until after a rain or after you have watered. Spraying with weed killer may kill the top, but beware -- the root may be very much alive!

It's like this in life too! "Weeding" out ungodly character can seem like a hard thing until we get started. Prayer often softens the "soil" just like water. (Pray through Psalm 139 for help with this.) Before you know it the "ground" of your heart will be a lot cleaner and you will feel a lot better! Then you are ready for planting!

Soil - Condition of the soil has a lot to do with how successful your plants grow. Remember the parable about the seeds that fell on various types of soil? It is recorded in Matthew, Mark, andLuke. Steve and Annie Chapman do a ballad that says,

Water - I think I will just devote a whole section to water. There are just too many things to say about it here!

That farmer song by the Chapmans usually runs in my head the whole time I am in the garden. I guess I DO hear His voice sharing "Master gardening" tips.