Lessons From Backyard Gardening

 Lessons from Backyard Gardening

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 14:12

I enjoy dabbling at gardening, and when I say dabble, I mean dabble. There are those who truly love gardening. They can grub up a handful of soil, smell it, roll it between their palms, taste some, and then tell you what will grow in your yard. Me, I troll the nurseries, reading those little tags and hope for the best. Occasionally when a worker approaches and asks if I need help, I reply, “I need tough plants. Plants that can deal with Lubbock weather and ham-fisted care. I need the Green-Berets of the plant world. I need leafy Rangers, ready to take the hill.” 

That said, I do enjoy gardening. I like the process. I thrill at the results when you get a group of flowering plants that signal God’s creative might with plashes of color scattered across the yard. I enjoy seeing the various pollinators buzz and flop around the yard, doing their bit to make things nice. I enjoy eating al-fresco with Christy or the rest of the family in an environ pleasing to the eye. But most of all, I enjoy the learning experience.

When I garden, it is as if the Lord takes time out to teach me about myself, to reveal areas in my life that need more attention, pruning as it were. As I poke, prod, and prune, God reveals His heart. He, the ultimate gardener, shares Himself with me. In some small ways, my little spot of green shares similar traits with His gardening of my human heart. He lavishes great effort on me, finding me an often-unruly plant, much like my Butterfly Bush.

One of the first things I planted in our backyard was a Butterfly Bush. I enjoy their colorful profuse lavender blooms and subtle scents. I also like their hardy nature which allows them to flourish here in Lubbock. Drive around our town during the summer and you will see Butterfly Bushes all over, peeking past fences or gracing business along major thoroughfares. Often you see them trained into small quirky trees.

I decided that is what I wanted in a nice sunny corner of our backyard. I envisioned a small flowering tree with a couple of Adirondack Chairs in the mottled shade. But how to get there? How do you turn a bush into a tree? Slowly is the answer. Once the bush establishes itself, you choose three or so branches to turn into trunks. Then, you relentlessly trim back any growth on those limbs. By cutting off the smaller branches, you force the bush to grow up. Eventually, the chosen branches thicken into trunks, and the bush grows taller. I planted my Butterfly Bush the first summer here, 2011. Now, ten years later, we enjoy a small tree close to twenty feet in height…tall enough so as to prohibit me from trimming from the ground, and I’m not planning on climbing any ladders to trim. Late each spring, I go through the same procedure.

I grab my clippers and get to work lopping off any new growth on the trunks and clearing out dead growth. It does not take long, but the result pleases me. The bush is now a small tree with space for two or three Adirondack Chairs to sit in the evening shade. Every year my tree wants to fill in the empty space in the middle. I know that it is a forlorn and useless effort. The sun does not shine enough in the middle of the tree. The canopy blocks the sun. The new limbs will grow well for a year, but they do not survive. The lack of sun stunts them and the next spring they do not put out leaves. What starts off with great promise and profuse growth ends up stunted, withered, and dead. I know this. The plant does not. Each year I trim, and the plant responds by pushing higher and growing bushier limbs. The plant and I share characteristics.

Often, I think things look great and push forward without consideration or prayer. The Lord knows what is best for me and works to train me to His vision. He sees a spot for a small tree in His garden. I see a fine place for a bush. I try my best to grow into a bush. That’s my natural inclination. He wants a tree to enjoy, one that reflects His work. My vision is really too small. So I put effort into fruitless pursuits, ones that He knows will not lead me to the shape He envisions. He knows that there is no future in that direction, no sunlight reaches that place. I do not know if my Butterfly Bush feels pain during the pruning process.

I can say with certainty, that I do not enjoy spiritual pruning. For a variety of reasons, I find the process painful or constraining. But I know that if I trust Him, I will enjoy the result. Like my Butterfly Bush, I have limited ability to see the future. I can envision, but the Lord can see. I recently was afforded an opportunity to take part in a ministry as a member of the leadership team; but, I felt no peace with the decision. As an officer in the Army, I trained to never turn down an opportunity to be in a leadership position. My natural inclination tends toward taking action, moving forward, and doing something. Sometimes, God would have us wait because He knows that proceeding in that direction is not what He sees. With great reluctance, I demurred, declining the opportunity and accepting God’s gentle pruning. 

It is hard to accept God’s will sometimes. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds me that God’s ways are not my ways. He sees with clear vision; consequently, He sees that the path that seems so good will only lead to disappointment and ruin. I have to learn to trust Him. In chapter 55, Isaiah reminds the children of Israel that God has a plan, a plan for our good, a plan that will result in something we cannot envision. So like Israel, I must learn to accept His pruning. After all, in John 15, Jesus calls upon the image of a gardener carefully tending his vineyard. Interestingly, Jesus likens himself to a plant, ceding the role of gardener to the father. If Jesus can submit to the father accepting ministrations, so can I…with practice. And if I let Him have His way, perhaps I will grow into something pleasing, something that gives Him joy and pleasure.