Our church received a grant from the county for a community garden back in the spring. The program is for non-profits, schools, and other organizations for the purpose of working together and providing a more nutritious, cleaner diet. This idea was birthed from a man newer to our church family who had a vision of families working together and providing great food. The garden was open to anyone interested in helping. Many families have been involved, whether it was building the gardens, planting or watering, building a fence, weeding, and harvesting (eating!).
There are great benefits of having a church garden. First, you have fresh vegetables. Second, you have the social side to gardening. We had sweet fellowship as we worked together, laughed, and basically built relationships. Third, you have the illustration of the spiritual journey with the life of a plant. Colossians 2:6-7 says “as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
Just like the vegetables, we need to have good soil as well. Some of the garden boxes received less soil than others, which produced plants that didn’t’ grow as well as others. They produced less fruit and we were not able to enjoy them to their full capacity. In our spiritual life, Christ becomes our source of nourishment at the moment of belief. When we trust in the finished work of the cross and resurrection, we are saved and transformed into the Family of God.
We need fertile soil to ground us. When Christ is the center of our life, our actions and words will reflect the transformation. When our actions and words are not representing Christ, we can trace it back to our soil. Is Christ our main priority? Is he in the center of our lives? Just like the garden, God wants us to bear much fruit. He wants to nourish us so that we can be overflowing with thanksgiving. When we are overflowing with thanksgiving, we will be witnesses of God’s grace and all sufficiency. And that is sweet fruit!
Author: Pastor Karl Records