Gardening As a Means of Grace

Today was a day that reminded me that working with your hands can be a means of God's grace.

My wife and I began a garden this year at the parsonage.  We have different hopes and goals for the garden. My wife sees it as a good hobby and stress reliever from our ministerial vocations where as I see it as an overall health initiative.

We planned, strategized, and ordered our plants and seeds.  Scouring over the catalogs we compared this tomato plant to another, discerned how many plants do we actually need, and how much can we tend to with our busy schedules.

Then came the preparation.  To my amazement, my neighbor worked the soil for me when I was gone and now the garden was ready for seeds and plants.

So I thought...

Living in Northwest Indiana requires a lot more patience than it does living in Southeast Indiana.  It takes longer to warm up and frost lingers longer into the year compared to where I grew up.  So we have to wait to plant and seed the garden.


However, our patience was met with a blessing, asparagus.

My predecessor planted asparagus and left it intact. My wife and I were excited that we inherited an asparagus plant and have been anxiously awaiting the spring to usher our first spears.

Today was that day.

During my lunch break, I would routinely check the flowers and garden to see if they needed any attention.  When I arrived to the garden I saw 6-8 spears sticking up 7-9 inches above the ground.  I exclaimed with joy, ran into the house to grab my gardening knife, and harvested the first food from our garden.

You would have thought I won the lottery.  I ran over to my neighbor to share the good news, and to offer the first crops from the garden for his hard work of preparing the soil.  Unfortunately, he does not share the same fondness for asparagus like myself.

Later that evening I began to fix dinner using the first batch of asparagus from the garden.  As I cut up the asparagus I paused and gave thanks for the food that had been given to me by the Creator of this creation.

When my wife came home we sat down and had a delicious dinner and enjoyed the fresh asparagus.

All of this, from six spears of asparagus, has propelled me into a desire to connect with my Creator God through not just tending and living off of a garden, but also caring for my whole self (mind, body, and spirit).

This summer I plan to become more aware of what I am eating by simply eating meals made with ingredients from the garden.


I will post updates as well as photos along the journey. 

Maybe you have done this.  Make sure to leave your comments below or on facebook.  I love getting feedback. Your feedback helps make the blog better and more enjoyable.