Maybe two weeks ago, the chickens got into my greenhouse and ate most of my seedlings. I felt like giving up on a garden this year. The chickens have ruthlessly destroyed any edible plant in my backyard.
I've been at war with the chickens for a few months. I bought a gate to confine them to a smaller part of the yard. They promptly flew over it. Attempt after attempt. Chicken escape. Chicken droppings all over my yard.
Finally, I found a tall foldable fence that was long enough to make a secure pen in a smaller section of the yard reclaiming my garden and backyard play area. In celebration, I went to the nursery and bought a few new plants and started some new seedlings in my greenhouse.
The weather here has turned warm. Tuesday was 84 degrees. The boys stripped to their underwear and played in the hose. I worked the soil.
Gardening is an endless hobby. There is so much to learn about each plant. Sun, water, soil, pruning -- where to plant what and how to care for the garden and keep everything alive. Ideally with nice flowers and fruits. I pick up some tidbits from books, some from YouTube with the kids and conversations with other gardeners. But if I'm going to be honest, most knowledge comes from experiments, mistakes and failed attempts.
I'm on my 3rd (and final) attempt with berries. The sun here is too intense and it scorched my first bush. I planted my second bush in the shade under my giant pine tree. It did much better there. It lasted several years but never thrived enough to produce more than a few fruit. It was in a bed with succulents, so I suspect that it didn't get enough water. This time, I've planted to new fruit trees in a semi shaded area. It is protected from the harshest sun and I'm setting up a watering system to baby the new fruit trees and help them get established. Maybe the berries can come along for the ride.
Gardening is full of many small disappointments and joys. Plants that take off and fill the space with vibrant green. Seeds that fail to germinate in pots. Flowers that paint the landscape. A favorite friend that gets attacked by insects. I am so fully aware of a partnership I have with nature. I have to do my part to care for the plants. But life will grow and choose its own path. I contribute but I cannot will my garden to thrive.
I am humbled by the amazing complexity that God has arranged in a normal garden. Microscopic bacteria and fungi that interact with elements and minerals in the soil. Larger creatures, worms, ants, roly-polys, Bees and butterflies play roles almost as large as mine in the care and future success of the plants. Other plants, air, water, sun, shade.... even the chicken poop all contribute to the success of raising tiny seeds into a vegetable harvest.
God calls us to be interdependent. Each playing our own role in life's garden. I may plant seeds. I may do my best to nurture growth in myself and others. I may even be cleaver enough to crash some sort of watering system to make sure my life's work gets ongoing nurturing, but I'm just one of many who work together to help the garden grow. Even for my 5 boys.
I'm sitting in their room as they fall asleep and I think of all the people that God has brought into our life to nurture their little selves - extended family, grandparents, teachers, therapists, friends, strangers. Moments that help make them. Year after year, I do my work as a mother. Pruning, watering, feeding, and observing. Striving to understand them as best as I can. Striving to maintain an environment that will help them thrive. But without all those other amazing people they surely wouldn't be doing as well as they are.
I get so caught up in my own story, I often overlook the complex interdependent web of players that build this amazing world we live in. It's mind numbing when you think about all the people that make each day of our lives possible - construction workers who build our houses and roads. engineers who design everything we touch, truckers who bring us stuff and food, water treatment, energy workers, doctors, mail carriers, grocers. We don't do any of this alone. We all have our part to play.
And God is there in the relationship, in the interdependence in the messy hand off and trade off that we all are trying to figure out to make life work. God helps us come together so the garden can thrive.
May I find and do my small part. Amen.
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