full of weeds

A week and a half ago I found about five hours to prepare and plant my vegetable garden.  The spot was mostly cleared – we had burned leaves on the garden in the fall and so there was very little growth of weeds in the spot in the meantime.  I did some careful tilling with a hand cultivator and worked in some compost and plotted out my “square plot” garden. 

Then, somehow between a morning meeting and UMW in the afternoon I rushed home, planted my seeds, and got back to work.

I haven’t done any gardening since.

Now, part of the reason for that is rain.  And rain is probably okay for these little seeds, although they are looking forward to the sunshine they will get in the next few days.  Right now, they are under the ground working and waiting and growing and emerging.  And so far, the vegetable garden is weed free. 

My other garden spots however are a complete mess.  The flower beds by the front steps are overgrown and need to be completely pulled up and planted.  My tulip bed needs to have the dandilions pulled out and put in some ground cover and/or mulch.  The bushes need some help, and some mulch, and some pulling.

Gardening is constant work.  And just when you think you have one area taken care of, another place needs your attention.  You are dependent on the elements and your own personal resources of time and energy and money for supplies. 

But I love it.  There is nothing better than getting your fingers dirty and humming sweet old hymns while I dig in the earth.  There is nothing better than the blisters that show that you have been hard at work.  There is nothing better than the vibrant color of the flowers and plants as they come up.

The same of course, can be said of our faith.  There is a reason that Jesus so often employed agricultural and natural parables as he communicated the good news.  It takes work, and patience, and outside help, but above all, it’s not something that happens over night.

Hopefully, I’ll get out and get some work done this afternoon.  Both internally and externally.