The Garden

Each summer we plant a garden in our backyard. It is one of my favorite parts of the whole year. Starting seedlings, prepping the ground, planting, weeding, fertilizing, watering, watching the growth, and harvesting the fruit of my labor. Caring for creation in this small way helps realign my focus to see how God cares for me. He provides my every need. We get to worship as we are good stewards of that which He has given us, namely His creation. In being good stewards, we, imperfectly, reflect Him. 

As God ministers to me through the garden, He also provides opportunities for ministering through it. Through the garden, we get to teach about God as Creator and Sustainer of everyone and everything[1] Through the garden we get to teach about the fall – the temporary undoing of what God made and declared good.[2]  Most significantly, through the garden, we get to share the gospel. The good news that our Creator and Sustainer sees the world’s brokenness, sees our brokenness and sin, and instituted a plan of redemption and restoration. Like Eden in the first chapters of Genesis, the garden helps depict the big story of the Bible: Creation, Fall, Redemption, & Restoration.[3]

Artwork by Caleb Kudlo. 

There are many additional benefits to the garden, but some of the highlights are the general interactions we get to have with youth in the neighborhood.  For many, the garden (and our four super cute chickens) are the first time the teens understood where food comes from. 

Earlier this summer one of the older teen boys was shocked to hear that potatoes are grown, especially underneath the ground. The 4-year-old inspects the tomatoes every hour waiting to pick them when they are finally ripe. When seeing the chickens, a teen remarked “it really gives you a whole new perspective on nature.” When feeding them, a different boy remarked, “this is the most fun an 8-year-old can have.” Books like “Jack and the Magic Beanstalk” and “Horton Hatches an Egg” make much more sense when you can see an actual beanstalk and understand what laying an egg looks like. While these interactions may seem small and nonessential, they are critical for building and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships forged through positive shared experiences. 

Watching our neighbors care for the garden brings out a different aspect of their divine imprint. Multiple times a day, I look out my window to see a teenage boy take a break from basketball to carefully water the garden. I see them sit in the shade and feed blades of grass to begging chickens. I see them imaging a God they may not yet know as they care for creation that was made through and for Him.[4] I see God generally revealing Himself to lost and searching souls. Pray with us that these interactions make way for further gospel conversations. 

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[1] New City Catechism, Part 1 – Question 2 “What is God?.” http://newcitycatechism.com/new-city-catechism/#2.

The full answer is, “God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.” 

[2] Genesis 1:31, NLT. 

[3] Tim Keller, “Tim Keller Explains the Gospel,” https://www.acts29.com/tim-keller-explains-the-gospel/.

[4] Colossians 1:16.