Life, like gardening, is dynamic.
If it’s not pests, then it’s weather. If it’s not weather, then it’s critters. If it’s not critters, then it’s poor soil. If it’s not poor soil, then it’s inexperience. And on and on. There are myriad reasons why someone shouldn’t invest their precious time gardening.
In fact, there are some who would say, “Why spend the time growing something you can buy at the store so readily and cheap?” That logic is actually fair, and the global food distribution system has made life a lot easier.
However, I would argue that there are a lot of life-lessons to learn from the process of gardening. While I may not convince someone to start a garden this spring, I can nevertheless expose them to the process and provide an array of thought that otherwise would not have been part of their regular life.
And so, how does the process of gardening apply to life?
When it comes to gardening there are many camps. Some till the soil and some don’t. Some fertilize and some don’t. Some rotate their crops and some don’t. There’s also an in-between–as with anything. However, most of us who didn’t grow up gardening just don’t know where to begin.
Thus, we usually attribute our lack of investment in gardening to a lack of experiential knowledge. Now, there are some out there who grew up gardening, and have no desire to continue. You probably pulled one million weeds, you probably tilled the soil until the cows came home, and you probably spent hours canning and preserving food that could have just as easily have been purchased at the local grocery store.
While I might not convince you to start again–that’s not really the point–we can, however, at least agree on some of the steps that make a garden great, see the potential for gardening as an enjoyable process, as well as appreciate how it applies to life.
So what is the basic gardening process?
- Plan
- Prepare
- Plant
- Process
- Preserve
This is not necessarily a detailed list, but is it broad enough for seeing a vegetable go from seed to savoring. With that being said, there are foundational points that need to be laid down before we continue this series…
Point One: You only have so many (i.e. finite) garden-seasons to learn from and make necessary adjustments. In the same way, you only have so many life-seasons to thus learn from and apply (make necessary adjustments).
Point Two: There are many reasons why you shouldn’t deliberately invest your time, treasure, and talents in gardening because of its dynamic nature and regular facing of failure. In the same way, there are many reasons why you shouldn’t deliberately invest your time, treasure, and talents in your life-spheres around you because of they are so dynamic in nature and too present many opportunities to face failure.
Point Three: The enjoyed bounty of a well-tended garden far surpasses any amount of frustrations, setbacks, and headaches faced during the process. In the same way, the harvest (reward) of a life intentionally lived far outweighs the frustrations, setbacks, and headaches experienced in living.
In the following weeks we’ll examine the garden process and see how it applies to everyday life.
Hang on tight…and get your seeds started!
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.”
Genesis 2:15