LIFE Seeds

I adore the premise that LIFE is like a garden. Check out last week post (The LIFE Garden) and see why.  

This week snow floated into my garden and well, my LIFE too. And although I have concern for everyone's safety and the lights to keep working, my mind has been on spring.

Yesterday, as the woods around me turned whiter by the hour, I ordered my garden seeds. Cukes, tomatoes, kale, Swiss chard, zucchini, peppers, watermelon, bok choy, and herbs—basil, thyme, parsley, oregano and sage.  Oh, an aronia bush and some strawberry plants. I still have some yellow and butternut squash and beet seeds left from last year.  

When my seed haul arrives, some I will start immediately inside to be ready for transplanting outside in early spring. Some will be planted directly into the soil in early March, but some will be planted later around mid-April, once the soil is warmer. And those beet seeds will be soaked in water over night before they are planted directly outside. And I'll place some old fashion matches in the hole with my pepper plants (sulfur helps them to grow).

All seeds but with different planting requirements, different schedules, different needs.

How would a garden grow without seeds or saplings to plant? We add these tiny items of hope to bloom into tasty food or flowers of beauty and then sit back and let the Master Gardener do His thing. Take our purposeful sowing agenda and add to it His blessing—the miracle of growth.

This made me think of my LIFE garden and the new seeds of change I'm determined to sow in my soul this year. 

Like many others I chose a word for 2016. REVITALIZE. (A Time Snap for 2016). 

So I've turned over some fertile soil, firmly planted a new row or two and noticed the soul seeds and the real seeds have something in common. Each requires different timing and tending. In other words, some revitalizing renovation projects are proving easy and some quite harder than expected.

One area I'm working on is my thoughts. You know, to catch those mental zingers flying through my head and ask some hard questions like—

Is this my idea or from the Holy Spirit or from the evil one? Is this encouraging or defeating? Is this positive or negative? Am I being judgmental of myself or others? Should I pursue this train of thought or trash it as stinking thinking?

Now this has proven much easier than I anticipated. Like I sowed the seed directly into fertile soil and see evidence of a sapling taking root.

But other areas are proving hard.

Like revitalizing my diet and working out. Yuk! Why do these areas have to always be so difficult? I may have to increase the size of the hole, throw in more compost, and pray harder for those seeds to finally take root and grow.

To have the LIFE garden I desire requires work. To gain wisdom, to free my imagination, and to persevere when I want to quit.

So I must wipe the sweat off my brow, put on my muddy garden shoes, and look to the Master Gardener for His guidance and support. Soul seeds will only propagate with His blessing—the miracle of growth.

After all, He's the one who bestowed upon me this LIFE garden in the first place. And He's into growth—all kinds—emotional, spiritual, mental and physical.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with your strength. Mark 12:30

What about you? Sown any soul seeds lately? How are your New Year resolutions? Or your word for the year?  Thanks for sharing your journey.

  

Tammy Van Gils is a writer, blogger, and co-owner of S & N Paint Contractors, Inc. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Word Weavers International. In the Richmond area, she is a member of The Christian Writers Hub and Word Weavers Richmond. Visit her Facebook Page, Pinterest and Twitter @Tammyvangils.