Harvesting "Good Weeds"

This spring I planted a garden with my kids. I use the term garden very loosely. We did plant seeds and some plants grew, but if you looked at my garden right now you can't really tell the weeds from the plants. In fact my son calls the actual plants, "good weeds." We planted the seeds in April. The kids and I were so excited. We weeded the garden, dug the row and planted the seeds. We knew it would take time. A few weeks later we checked back and could start to see little sprouts coming up. I've mentioned before that I do not posses a green thumb. A true gardener would water her plants daily. She'd check on them. She'd weed the garden.

I have done none of these things.

We watered our garden when we planted the seeds and that is it. We check on the garden about once a week. I have weeded it once since the initial time. To be honest, I've pretty much left the plants to fend for themselves.

I'm sure your not surprised to hear that none of my pea plants made it. I had about 4 or 5 plants sprout up, but nothing ever came of them. I had 2 green bean plants grow and from them, we got 2 beans. Not enough for us to stop buying produce and start living off the land quite yet.

My purpose in planting the garden wasn't really to supplement our grocery shopping. It was more to teach my kids about gardening. I wanted them to learn how to plant seeds, and to get to see change in the seeds and to get to see them produce food. I did it more for the experience of gardening, then for actual food growing purposes.

But, my experience in gardening is teaching me something as well. It causes me to reflect on the harvest  Christians should be anticipating. The Bible compares planting seeds with sharing the gospel. The seeds being seeds of faith. Galations 6:9 states,"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." In order for us to reap a harvest we need to not give up. It doesn't really work to simply plant the seed, then ignore it, and expect growth to occur. We need to feed it. We need to tend to it. We need to wait on it patiently. How true this is of us. When we as Christians are sharing God's love with others, it really can't be a one shot deal. If I told my children once about the Lord and his sacrifice for them on the cross, and then never modeled for them His grace in my life, I probably wouldn't see much growth in their walk with the Lord. I need to tend to the seeds. I need to nurture them and feed them. I need to read to them from the Bible, pray with and for them, take them to Sunday School and church, teach them how to worship, how to pray and do those things with them. I need to model to them my need for a Savior. I need to point out sin and its consequences in my life, our lives and our world. I need to point out their need for a Savior. I also need patience. I need to wait on the Lord's timing. I can't say, "Well I've tried and they aren't getting it so, that's it for me." I need to never grow weary of doing good. In the daily grind of parenting we need to be consistent and we need to continually point our children to the one true light in the World. Something this important can't be something we only do on Sunday or just on holidays.  And at the proper time, we will reap a harvest.

Don't give up!

Weekend Thoughts:
My posts typically relate funny anecdotes about the happenings here at the circus.  While my days are seldom “normal” enough to leave me without a “post worthy” moment, I use my last post of the week to highlight something a little more “thoughtful” and significant. If you had a thoughtful post from this last week, or choose to make a new one, please feel free to add a link in the comments section below.  I’d love to hear what others are learning.