Garden Thoughts

As Christ followers who read the Bible, what comes to mind when we think of a garden?  The garden of Eden? The garden of Gethsemane?  Jesus’ parable in Matthew about the seeds in the soil? Surely, gardens have a place in God’s Kingdom.

At Morning Star Sanctuary, this past spring volunteers built three sturdy wooden raised bed garden boxes.  They grace the fence line near to one of the shelters.

I began working at MSS in April and came from a small Amish farming community in PA, where my family raised cows, hogs and chickens and grew large, abundant gardens.  Getting to be part of starting the MSS garden was a delight for me.  This might be the part of this essay where it would be expected for me to write about how the garden is a thriving centerpiece of life at MSS and that we all just love it, and care for it, and are feeding our women in the shelter heartily on a daily basis.

Not quite.

Instead, our little garden is a small, humble part of a bigger picture –community.  Relationships.  Building trust.  And – watching some things wither and fail.

And it is beautiful.  How?

Janelle (MSS Operations Manager) and myself went to purchase the plants together – I was glad for conversation with her as we drove to get plants, picked out the vegetables and seeds, and I had the chance to get to know more of who she is.

Several of our advocates were very excited about the garden.  One morning two advocates worked with me to plant our herbs – basil, oregano, thyme, lavender, cilantro, parsley.  We talked, laughed, planted, and watered.

And then we wait.  In the next couple of weeks, there is not much garden talk.  The garden is watered every day, weeded a bit, and…that’s about it.

But then…garden fruit begins!

I walked into shelter one day and one of our participants shared with me that she had sliced up banana peppers on her sandwich, and in her words, with a big smile, they were” sooooo good!”  I found a recipe for southern baked squash, and another participant used the recipe and made the casserole for others in the shelter – we all heard how delicious it was.  One weekend, a participant made fried green tomatoes. This past week, several participants were sitting around the kitchen table eating salads that had our garden’s green peppers and cucumber in them – what a delight to easily talk about fresh vegetables, and listen to women talk about food, what they like and don’t like to eat, and smile, and laugh a little.

Two of our participants had some conflict.  I sat with the advocates in the office and as one of the participants shook with anger and frustration, trying to hold back her tears. As our advocates beautifully and professionally worked to help these participants with their frustrations, this one participant went to sit outside under a tree.  A little while later, walking outside, I asked if she would like to join me at the garden.  She did.  We picked vegetables, and she marveled at the giant vine one cucumber plant had become, trying to take over the whole spot. We talked about the beauty of God creating these vegetables from something so small. She shared her hopes to have a garden one day. We never mentioned the recent conflict. And I watched her become calm, more collected and relaxed.

Two plants died quickly, and the thyme and lavender never grew- a lot like the seeds of help and hope that staff at MSS seek to plant -  and the attempts we make to help women – not everyone grasps onto help.  It can be discouraging. But the reality is that the death of things is part of life in a sin-laden world where a serpent in a garden tempted Adam and Eve and they succumbed. Here in 2024, as a result of that, I am an expert sinner.  But because of Jesus – his birth, life, death and resurrection – I am an expert sinner saved by grace.  Hallelujah!  Can you say the same?

One of my favorite quotes is this: “Be an ordinary Christian, doing ordinary things with gospel intentions.” I am almost tempted to NOT share any of these things about our garden, because the work that the staff are doing every day is so much more than this- so much more! As I write these garden thoughts, might it be true – these ordinary acts become a means for all of us at MSS to point others to Christ.

May we point others to Christ in the garden!  May we point others to Christ in our words, and our actions.  And may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our Rock and Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)