Spring is so welcome after the long winter of gray. Color returns. Flowers bloom. Leaves emerge…and quickly we forget the grayness of the past winter. There are so many shades of green! Looking at the new leaves alone makes one marvel at our Father. How many “greens” can there be? The beauty of it takes your breath away.

One of the most anticipated rituals for me is the day Baxter turns the garden under. He loves to plow the garden. The garden is full of leftover winter crop and grass and weeds. It doesn’t take long though for that beautiful dirt to be exposed. He repeatedly plows and turns the dirt over until a beautiful patch of brown appears…ready to receive plants and seeds. You know you are a gardener when you smell that freshly turned dirt and think the smell is heavenly…we do.

It is as if last year has been erased from the garden. New rows are “laid off”. The fun of planting seeds and plants can begin. At days end, there is a brand new garden started. The difficult work of plowing and planting is complete…now begins “ the great wait”.

What are we to do during this wait? Nothing? Just watch? No. The garden would be lost. The garden must be tended. In just a few days , fine little leaves will appear. Weeds! If left alone, those tiny weeds would soon overtake the precious garden and the year’s harvest would be lost.

I found myself working the garden this week. There were plenty of weeds to deal with. All were still tiny and easily done away with. As I was hoeing, I was talking to the Father about how appreciative I was of His reminder that we are like the garden. We must look to our life and “weed out” all that would steal our life with Him.

But our Father had other words to say. The question came to mind, “Who is the Gardener?” I thought, “I think I am?” That was the wrong answer. I immediately realized God is the ultimate Gardener. He is the One who plows up our life that He might sow “good seed” into us. He is the One who weeds and hoes and fertilizes. He is the One who sends the sun and rain. And He is the One who brings a harvest.

As I worked on, my thoughts turned to Cain and Abel. Again I wondered…was part of Cain’s sin the same arrogance I had shown? Did he believe the harvest came from his hand? That he had produced the crop? That the sacrifice he was offering was something he had done? Did Cain believe he was the gardener? Did Cain not know that God produced the crop? That it all came from God? Maybe…

Am I allowing Father God to be the Gardener in my life? Am I giving myself to His discipline and teaching? Or have I taken over the position of Gardener when it isn’t mine to take?

Genesis 1:26-30
Genesis 4:1-7