We have started planting our seeds for this coming year’s garden. It has been such a joy to know what lies ahead and that summer is coming. I’m looking forward to fun days with my kids and watching all the new things come back to life after winter. Summer means something different, we are all off work and school and get to spend so much time together. We get to spend 10 whole weeks exploring and learning as a family.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!My hope is that my kids will find as much joy in these things as I do. I can’t wait for our little projects to become something they truly feel a part of.
Teaching Growth Through Gardening
One of my goals this year is to have the kids help me plant flowers in the front of our house. I want them to get excited about the process of starting with something small and watching it grow as you nurture it.
“He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”
— Mark 4:26–27 (NIV)
Sometimes the smallest seeds teach the biggest lessons about growth, patience, and care. Something that I think God is always reminding us (or at least me) is to continue to grow in our faith. Have patience in all areas of your life and care for all that is around you.
Nurturing Our Hearts and Souls
It’s a simple lesson, but an important one: we all need nurturing in order to grow.
God gives us that nurturing if we listen to the Holy Spirit within us and spend time reading His Word. But we must also encourage that growth and nurture it so it can truly come to life.
If you leave a plant alone, very little will change. But when you nourish it—giving it water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil—you see it flourish. It becomes a healthy, beautiful plant that provides so much for animals or people, depending on what it is.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
— 1 Corinthians 3:6
In the same way, we all need to be taken care of in one way or another. Sometimes it’s simply about making the time and recognizing the importance of nourishing our souls with God’s Word.
“but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
— Psalm 1:2–3
Lessons from the Garden
Gardening is such a wonderful example of this, especially when you start from a tiny seed and watch it through its entire season of life.
Some garden plants don’t come back year after year, so you invest time and care into something that has a short season. Yet it is still incredibly meaningful because it nourishes our bodies with food that we can preserve long after the plant itself is gone. Even short-lived things deserve to our best care. If you apply this to our children in the long road, we have them in our homes for such a short part of their lives. It’s so important to honor that time and bring them alongside you.
It truly is a blessing to see the full circle of plant life and the animals it helps—bees, insects, and so many others. They all impact our lives, and God has made it all work together beautifully in His design, even in this broken world.
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
— Genesis 8:22
One day there will be redemption when Jesus comes again and all will be made right.
The Beauty of New Beginnings
For now, doing our best and appreciating the beauty around us is a blessing. Seeing spring come to life after everything has been brown and quiet through the winter reminds us of that.
Even when things look dead, with a little warmth and care they reveal that life is still there—ready to flourish when given what it needs.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.— Isaiah 43:19
A Question to Reflect On
When is a time in your life that you notice fresh starts and growth happening?
It may not always come with the seasons, but at different moments and stages throughout life.