Well, the gardening began in earnest this morning. I took a couple of hours off and spaded a 12 by 12 section of the garden, raked it down and then went to the local hardware store to purchase seeds. Do you have any idea how many different kinds of lettuce and radishes there are? I just wanted to sow a couple of rows of each to get started, but there I stood, at the Mt. Rushmore of seed selections, trying to make up my mind.
Black Seeded Simpson lettuce I knew I wanted, but there were so many others that I knew Nancy loved in her salads. I stood there for a few moments, maybe even a few minutes, overloaded with choices and not sure which would be best. Even now, as I sit and write this article I am struggling to remember which ones ended up 'being the best for us' . . . and whether or not they were, they are sown now. The same with radishes. I wanted red radishes and white radishes (I plant what I remember loving to eat when I am at the table. So much for a discerning selection.), and what I was faced with choosing was between about a dozen different types of each. When it came time to select spinach and carrot seeds, I closed my eyes and grabbed the seed, ran to the counter, paid for my purchases and headed out the door. It was far more work selecting what I wanted to sow than it was preparing the ground. But, it got me to thinking.
If we were all the same it wouldn't be much fun would it? Life would be pretty mundane and there would be no choices of what to do with whom, because we would all do about the same thing, the same way, with the same emphasis. God must have foreseen this when God began the work of creation and, if you look around at all the different kinds of people there are in the world, you get the idea God has quite an imagination about how different all of God's people are meant to be. Not only are different ethnicity's set up to succeed in different climates, much like seeds, but different genetic traits enable the different peoples to perennially thrive and improve from one generation to the next, again, much like the plant world around us. It is an awesome idea to ponder!
So, are the people that are hybrids or the ones which are raised in inappropriate environments considered the 'annuals' of the species? Are certain kinds of people just are not designed to thrive in different kinds of places, even though they may be found there? Those are the kinds of questions I can ponder on for long periods of time, not that I have come to any sort of resolution regarding the different kinds of peoples, but just ruminating on the possibilities brings me to a greater awe of the God who is still at work in creation. It also makes me wonder about me . . . and where in the world I really belong.
For now, I have planted three different kinds of lettuce, two different kinds of radishes, a row of spinach, and a row of carrots. There are four different kinds of tomatoes, two different kinds of peppers, cauliflower, string beans, and sweet corn waiting in the wings for the rest of the garden to be tilled, and potatoes and sweet potatoes are yet to come. Look around at the plantings of God and dare to dwell in the wonder of what variety you are and for what reason you are birthed as you are. God is as much in you and in what you are capable of producing as God is in everyone else, just as they are.
God's world in never mundane, so hang on to your britches and leap for joy! God's planting in you is for a reason and there is a purpose for where you are: You are a specific variety God intended to happen. Now the universe waits in breathless anticipation to celebrate what will be produced in you. Thanks be to God for God's gardens!
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
Sign for the Week:
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING
DEEPER THAN DOGMA?
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!
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