“Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Lev. 23:4).
May is a lovely month; a happy time and we are grateful for it. Gone is the ankle-deep mud of early spring and most of the threat of frost. The lush green grass is a joy to the horses, which have lost their shaggy winter coats and now gleam in the sun. The lilacs are in bloom and their scent fills the air. The apple tree is a display of white blossoms. After taking a vacation for the winter, our elderly hens are laying again. Once more, ducky can swim in the unfrozen water of her pond and barn swallows are tending nests in the barn. Clean sheets hang from the clothesline. All out of doors is now open to us again; everywhere we turn, we see the tangible manifestation of God’s love toward His children. The miraculous rebirth of the land turns our thoughts toward the rebirth that will cleanse the whole earth at Christ’s return. The magnitude and joy of it are beyond our comprehension.
The garden becomes an important part of our lives at this time. The early crops of asparagus and rhubarb are already up. Now it’s about time to put in those crops that need warm weather: tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and squash, etc.
All year long, we eat what the garden produces. Aside from the nutritional value and taste, which far exceed any vegetables that can be purchased, there are many other benefits to gardening. The simple pleasure of working in the soil and enjoying the sun is a great benefit. So is the satisfaction of feeding the family from one’s own produce. The most profound benefit, however, is the feeling of wonder at the scope of God’s creation and the attention He has paid to the smallest detail. We plant a tiny, hard seed in the dirt expecting a large green plant to be produced; that is an act of faith! Without the life-giving power of God, nothing would happen. To plant is to believe in Him.
We must never think that the garden is ours and that we did it. We must remember that all things come from our Heavenly Father and that His goodness is without bounds. From the germination of a vegetable seed in the ground, to the development of the seed of the Word into eternal life in the kingdom, all is from Him and is equally marvelous to our mortal minds.
“And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast a seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:27,28).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One