Growing gardens

We have this greenhouse on our property. I have never been accused of knowing anything about gardening, but it seems rather large to just leave there as an empty lawn ornament. (A really, really big, ugly lawn ornament). I remember gardening with my mom when I was a kid, but 'gardening' back then seemed to mean "Mike, pull the weeds in the garden" or "Mike, go water the garden," or "Mike, go mow around the garden, and make sure to blow the grass away from it not towards it." And I was completely terrified (still am) of Garden Spiders. They absolutely creep me out. Needless to say, I didn't like gardening that much.

Now I find myself with this big growing dome thing on our property that has all these planters in it. And somewhere from within there is this stupid desire to save money on food costs. So I am revisiting the whole 'garden' thing. To make a long story short, I am learning that regardless of how much I pray, believe in faith, trust, go to church, or say the right things, not much is going to grow in there until I fertilize and water and plant something. It doesn't seem like alot. I might be really hungry, and all I can do right now is water the plants. It becomes a movement into what Papa has given me to do, sorta like walking in faith, only I am willing to excersie what I can to do my part. I don't have a right to gripe because I am hungry if I am unwilling to do what I can. I am learning that getting things to grow isn't up to me, because I can do the tilling and fertilizing and planting, but I can't do squat to get the little buggers to grow. I can't make it happen.

I was just our there watering a few minutes ago, and some of the seeds we put in the ground are popping up. Others are no where to be found. In some sections we have absolutely nothing up. In other places there are plants growing that we didn't put there. It is the weirdest thing. Some of the plants came up really quick. Others take forever. I feel funny watering the soil with nothing in it. Watering dirt. It feels pointless. When I was a kid, I remember the big fad teaching that went around telling everybody to talk to their plants. It was supposed to make them grow better. I stood out there today and looked at thriving plants, shriveled plants, and areas with no plants at all and actually thought about talking to them.

There are things I can do, and things I can't do to grow that garden. It doesn't really matter how hungry I am; I find that there is only so much I can do to make the food come. So that I do, because it's my part of the equation. The rest in up to Him. And it's ironic how hard it is to tell the difference between those two - the stuff I can do something about and the stuff I can't.

There is a point to my story. I have been encountering a lot of people lately who whine about their situation, and how they can't do anything to change it. I tell them there is always something they can do. They just don't want to do it. They like to be seen as powerless because then others will feel sorry for them and maybe solve it for them. But they don't want to put the seeds in the ground. They want (and expect) Papa to do it all for them. They get mad at Him when he doesn't. And they use their choice to be powerless as an excuse to feel sorry for themselves and angry at the world. If nothing else, they at least have the power to decide how they are in the world, and who they are.

Each of us has seeds we can sow. And each of us has a lot of growing to do that we can't make happen. Our part is to do what we can, and not expect God or others to do it for us. What kind of garden do you want?