When I was young, Mama was quite the gardener. She worked a spot of land in our back yard, which was about 90' x 50'. I used to watch in the spring of the year, as she would take a shovel, a hoe, and till the whole garden. Of course Daddy would help her when he could, but she considered it her project. She would come in at night to a tub of Epsom Salt and hot water after many hours of hard work. The next day, without fail, she would break up the grass from the clumps of soil. Again she would do the same Epsom Salt routine. The next couple of days she would dig her individual rows for planting. Of course different vegetables would require different planting times.
The soil in the spring time has a freshness that says it was ready for seed time. Working with the soil brings you into fellowship with nature. Some seeds had to be planted deep while other seeds had been planted shallow. Some planting required two seeds to a hole, while other planting required more. After planting, Mama would water the garden when necessary. Mama put up a fence made of chicken wire to keep the small animals from eating the plants and produce. Every couple of days after the seed sprouted she would watch not to let weeds choke the plants out. Mama nurtured that garden like a mother nurturing a baby.
After the plants grew, she would go out and pull weeds. It's funny to me, how weeds are stronger and more pervasive then the crop plants.
God provided the sun and the rain, and Mama provided the care and responsibility. Many days would come and go until it was ready for harvest.
Every once and a while the heavens would not yield forth rain; the ground would become parched, although the weeds kept growing. Sometimes this could last for a couple of days or a couple of weeks. All the effort put into the garden, it could be lost by the heavens closing. Not to mention the money put into the supplies. The dryness zaps all the water out of the soil and then the plants. The plants will die if they do not receive the water needed to grow. Mama would take the garden hose and water the garden in the cool of the evening, but never in the heat of the day but in the cool of the evening. After all the care she put into protecting the garden, she wasn't going to let the dry spells overtake the thing that she loved and the thing she put time, energy, and effort into.
We never lacked in the winter because Mama had the foresight to prepare, first of all by making the land ready, planting and protecting the harvest. She also made sure she canned for the fall and winter months. We were never in need of produce.
Do you ever wonder if God really cares for you?
Do ever feel like e everything is trying to choke you out?
Do you ever feel like your enemies are wild animals trying to destroy you before you have fulfilled your life's purpose?
Do you ever go through dry spells in your life?
Do you feel like heaven's doors are shut on you?
Does it feel like these seasons will never end?
Are all of your sources dry?
Do you feel like God is not answering your prayers?
Does it seem like the sinner and the ungodly are prospering and you are not.
You may be going through a dry season. It too will pass. Where is the cool of our evening?
God I trust you to see me through these times. You have done it before and you are doing it this time. I may not be able to see it, but you are bringing me though it and out of it. Your mercies are like the morning dew. They refresh me every morning.
Great is your faithfulness!
