How does YOUR Garden Grow???

By Kelly Smith
6-6-04

Do you have a garden?  Think about it...  What is in your garden???  In the natural you might have a flower garden or a vegetable garden.  It takes effort to cultivate and grow these gardens.  Maybe you have a fancy rose garden.  It takes a lot of effort to grow a rose garden and produce beautiful roses.

Some of you might answer that you don't have a garden, but believe it or not, we all have a garden that we plant or sow into everyday. This is a garden that is not a natural garden like a fruit or vegetable or flower garden. This is a spiritual garden that can bloom with life or that can bloom with death.  But a garden nonetheless.  This is hard to imagine, I'm sure, but everyone does have a garden that we plant or as the Word says, sow into...

I know of a nursery rhyme that always comes to mind when I think of gardening.  Most people are familiar with this rhyme... 

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.

It is interesting to note that as I did the research for this teaching I ran across what this nursery rhyme really means.  It relates really well to the topic of knowing what your garden is growing.  Here is a quote from the website I found the poem on...  

The origins are steeped in history...
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith. The silver bells and cockle shells were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'maids' were a device to behead people similar to the guillotine.
  http://www.rhymes.org.uk 

Wow, what a statement from History!  Now, think about it, do you think this queen was thinking about what she was sowing into history when she was doing this?  I really don't think so, or at least not from a Biblical perspective.  What can we learn from this historical example?  Plenty!  

First...  What are you sowing???

Are you sowing seeds that bring life or seeds that bring death?  God is very clear as to what our fruit should be.  In Galatians 5:22 He specifies our fruit...

For the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  Against such things there is no law.

God is quite clear that unless you sow the same kind of seed, you will not reap that crop.  So often we are taught that these fruits will just manifest. But unless we make a deliberate practice to sow these same kind of seeds, we will not see these fruits reaped in our own lives.  This takes effort on our part.  It takes making up your mind, purposing to do these things.  

Galatians 6:7-8  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  

So if you are sowing good seed, the fruit of the Spirit, you will reap eternal life.  We sometimes go about things haphazard.  Just kind of letting things happen.  But as Christians, we need to be purposeful in what we are doing, what we are saying and how we are doing things.  If we are walking according to the Spirit then we should be using the fruit of the Spirit to guide us and help us along.  But we should also be purposeful in sowing according to the fruit of the Spirit.

Second... When are you sowing???

As any farmer knows, unless you plant corn seed, you will not harvest corn.  But if you don't plant corn seed, you won't have the crops come in for the winter so that you can feed the live stock.  It is a vicious cycle, every spring the farmer goes out, tills the ground, plants the seed, waits till the fall for the harvest, harvests the crop and then once again waits till spring for the ground to soften to start all over again.

Ecclesiastes 3:2b a time to plant and a time to uproot...

How often have we forgotten that there are seasons even in the Spiritual cycle of life?  That there is a time to till, a time to sow, a time to wait, and a time to harvest?  Seeing things in the natural today, we can go to the store and get just about any kind of fruit or vegetable whether or not it is in season.  We can import from some exotic location, which we probably will never visit, those fresh fruits and vegetables that would not normally be available during that time of the year.  This gives us a false sense that we can get what we want whenever we want it!  God doesn't work that way.  Unless we sow in the season to sow in, we won't reap the harvest we need to sustain us during the winter seasons of our spiritual life.

We have to know when to sow these seeds.  The seeds are the same fruits of the Spirit that we need to reap in the harvest time.  As we make the effort to be kind or patient, then when we have need to have these expressed in our life, we will receive them.  Let me give you an example from my life...

Maybe you need to go to the store and buy groceries.  Some people hate shopping for food.  I really don't mind grocery shopping at all, but inevitably I seem to pick the slowest line in the whole store.  LOL  Okay, if you don't like to wait, don't go shopping with me.  I stand there waiting and waiting for the people in front of me to finish.  I have learned that to get impatient is not what God wants.  When I extend mercy and grace showing patience and smiling, that the time goes quicker and those around me pick up on my good attitude and they tend to have more patience with waiting for the line to get to them.  Then when I get in a bind and I have a screaming baby in the cart, the groceries are overflowing and I am also dealing with a toddler that wants candy from the checkout line, I am blessed with someone who helps unload my cart or tries to play and occupy the baby for me.  This is what I am talking about.

You see I learned that if I sowed good things, I would reap the good.  I remember another time when I had enough on the highway with those drivers who like to ride the burm when traffic is backed up and there is probably an accident up ahead. For the most part, I let them go and stay out of their way.  But one day, I was fed up with this.  Now, I drive a fairly large vehicle, a 15 passenger van.  I pulled out in the way just enough to block one of these reckless drivers. To say the least I was miffed!  I had enough of these crazy drivers.  But when I finally let him go, I got stuck in traffic big time!  It took me forever to get home and my patience was tried to say the least.  I reaped what I sowed.

Third...  What is your Harvest?

Now, what are you harvesting?  Are you harvesting a good crop?  or are you harvesting a bad crop full of bad things?  Now even if you are sowing good seed, it doesn't mean that you won't have those weeds crop up that you will have to deal with.  God addresses this also in His Word... 

Matthew 13:24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared."  

You see, just because we sow good seed, doesn't mean we won't get weeds.  But we do get a good crop from the seed that we sowed.  If you had sown seeds of discord, jealousy or rage, you would have not only reaped the weeds, but also discord, jealousy or rage.  But if you have sown good seed, the fruits of the Spirit, then you will reap the fruit of the Spirit in your life.

Church we need to realize what we are sowing into the fertile ground.  We need to see that we are planting seeds that will come and bless or curse us.  Now, as I wind up here, what are you sowing into your own life?  What are you sowing into the life of others?  What are you sowing into your family?  What are you sowing into your local church?  What are you sowing into the unsaved?  Trust me, if you are not intentional in sowing good seed, you might be very well sowing bad seed.  

You need to make a choice today and sow the good seed so that you will reap the good crop in life!  Remember our little history lesson from above, Queen Mary is remembered for being a horrible Queen because the things she did. For her it was like planting bad seeds that grew into a bad crop for her.  If you want to be remembered well, sow good seed.  Trust me it has it's benefits.  So now be purposeful in your choice of seeds to plant.  And make sure you are sowing in season so that when it's time for the harvest you can reap the blessings necessary to sustain you through the winter!

God Bless you as you enjoy your life and sow for the Kingdom of God!

Other Teachings for Women...
[Uniquely You]  [How Are Your Defenses?] [Practical Christian Living] [It's Time]