Digging it up...

We've recently moved to another state.  Part of the house that had me most excited was the yard.  The previous owners had at one time, long ago, planted a garden.  My heart soared when I saw the space, 22'x20.  It's huge, at least for what I was used to, a small triangle sized area about 3'x4' where last year I planted some tomatoes and lettuces at our rental house.

This spring after the LONG thaw here in New Hampshire, I set to work.  I had planned almost every plant I wanted and just before sowing the seeds I ran across an article in a magazine citing "Kugle culture" gardening.  These beds are raised beds with slow decomposing organic material, rotting logs, branches, leaves and top soil.  Initially it looked like a lot of work but I was determined that if I could get it started, I would be able to feed my family all summer long with luscious veggies and herbs.

One afternoon, I took to gathering fallen trees from our yard, digging a long trench to put the logs in then covering them up with branches and leaves and finally about a few inches of soil on top.

The idea with kugelculture beds is that as time progress, the materials begin to decompose and the moisture rises to the plants, thus cutting the watering needed to almost nothing.  This is what excited me most.  I don't have much of a green thumb.  Ironically, both my mom and dad love gardening and their gardens thrive.  I say that I'm better at growing kids than plants.  :)

After the beds were readied, I planted the vegetables and seeds I had gathered, watered the beds and stood back to enjoy what I had accomplished.  A few days later, I realized that I not only had a planted a few rows of veggies,

but I had picked up poison ivy in the process.  Thus began a month of terrible itching and pain. :(

Then a few weeks later, I noticed that the garden gate had been left open and a critter purged himself on the bounty of broccoli, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, beans...all that had finally begun to grow.

Needless to say I was sad.  I can't blame the animal for going to town on my veggies.  I told Duane I was done, it didn't matter that there were a few plants left, corn, 1 pumpkin, 1 zucchini and 2 cucumbers, a few beans and 1 tomato.  I took a hiatus from the garden.  Then my family came to visit.  I didn't want them to see the garden because they've all had wonderful gardens of their own that they were able to enjoy the bounty of their hard work.  My pride was hurt.  So I left the few remaining plants to fend for themselves...

This weekend, I was outside and glanced over at the garden.  I was ashamed that I had walked away from it.  The weeds had taken over the entire garden. 

As I looked at it, it appeared too overwhelming to tackle.  Slowly I made my way over.  I began to pull at the weeds.  Surprisingly they came out pretty easily.  Some of the weeds and grass that were growing grew very close to the few plants that were left.  The pumpkin vine was actually weaving it's little tendrils around some of the weeds that grew near it.

While I was weeding a small patch near the back of the garden, I sensed the Lord saying something.  This garden was a picture of my heart.  Over the past few months, I have begun to see how low I've been.  My tendency is to go gung-ho after God and then things begin to pop up and I'm easily distracted.  The weeds begin to grow.  They are pretty small at first and most times I don't even realize how quickly they are growing.  Just like in my garden, it can be tough to recognize the plant from the weed.  Sometimes the weed may be crowding the plant.  When I saw the pumpkin reaching out to the weed, I was really surprised.  The weeds were so thick that the pumpkin couldn't reach out to the fence near it to latch on to.  It grabbed the nearest thing to it.

That was a powerful picture for me.

Where am I reaching out to weeds in my life?  I know I've wrapped my heart around weeds instead of around Jesus.  Obviously the things that are close to my heart are the things I will grab onto first.  If it isn't Jesus, then what is it?  Attitudes/insecurities, pride, selfishness, other people...  All these things fight for my attention apart from God's Spirit.

I'm grateful for the things God has placed in my life recently.  I sense a reawakening to His movement in my life and a deepening hunger for His presence.  But I have to make a move towards removing those weeds from my life.  Allowing God to show me where I've reached out to hold onto something other than Him may not be the easiest thing to do.  But I know He sees what's ahead for me and in order to grow healthier spiritually I want His Spirit to weed out my heart.