Planted to grow!

Jeremiah 24:6b “I will plant them so they can grow.”



Have you ever planted a vegetable garden? The first year we moved here I determined that in the spring I would plant my own tomatoes, cucumbers for pickling and green beans.

Early in April I set to work, we marked off a rather large plot in the back corner of our yard and the boys turned the earth for me. Then we added fertilizer, not that you have to fertilize but I was determined to follow what the gardening guru’s said would make my garden the envy of the neighborhood.

Then I went shopping. I was very ambitious that first year, a row of cucumbers, a row of beans, two rows of tomatoes with cherry, roma and big beefeaters. Next to that would be pepper plants, green, yellow, red, hot and cayenne. My salsa would come from my own garden, I would can the green beans and make pickles just like nana’s.

What I didn’t count on were the bunnies. Three years later I still attempted green beans and three years later I had the healthiest, chubbiest bunnies in the county. They loved my green beans. I also learned some other very valuable lessons.

First, learn how to space your vegetables apart, cherry tomatoes take up more room than beefeater and cucumber vines go everywhere. Second, patience is the key, especially where peppers are concerned, if you want them to be red or yellow you have to wait, you don’t pick all of them when they are still green. And third, gardening is a lot of work. There are weeds to pull, plants to water and pruning that needs to take place.

Now my garden is a very small 5 by 5 plot, just large enough for 4 tomato plants. Last year I even got the brilliant idea to plant them in pots, no earth digging for me, needless to say, we bought all of our tomatoes for our salsa last fall, expensive but a good lesson. You see, I had every intention of becoming a master gardener. One who knew plants, a green thumb. I was determined that I would master the art of gardening. Truthfully I think it mastered me. I planted, they grew and though I did see some fruits from my labor, the lessons I learned are what I count as the most valuable.

That’s what God says about each one of us. He says “he will plant us so that we can grow”. In the New Testament we are referred to as branches. Jesus says “I am the vine and you are the branches. If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without me they can do nothing.” Have you ever seen a tree grow that has no branches? Can you imagine a vine that comes from the earth with no leaves or offshoots? That is what Jesus is saying. If he dwells in you, you will have leaves, you will be a branch and you will bear fruit.

Much like the tomato plants in my garden, if I stopped tending them, learning lessons from them, pulling the weeds around them or watering them, they would shrivel up and stop bearing fruit. Trust me, I’ve neglected them on occasion and the results are not pretty. We are a branch from the “source”. Jesus is that source, He is the good earth, His word is the fertilizer and from that we bear good fruit but only if we continue to fertilize and rely on the root for every decision and every ounce of “growth” in our lives.

God promises He will plant us and we will grow. Luke 6: 43-45a says “A good tree does not produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don’t gather figs from thorn bushes and they don’t gather grapes from bushes. Good people bring good things out of the good they stored in their hearts.” What are you storing in your heart today? To produce good fruit we need a strong root. Who have you rooted your life in? Were you planted by God and are you fertilizing your soul everyday? If not take a moment to ask first for forgiveness for not seeking him or if need be for not asking him to plant you in the good soil of his love, then let his word be your fertilizer and his love be the water that helps you produce good fruit of the vine.