I’ve discovered I love gardening. There’s something about tending and caring for living things that feels so wholesome and fulfilling. Picking a location. Learning what plants grow well together. Preparing the soil. Planting the tiny seeds. Watering the ground and then watching the tiny seeds sprout into living fruit-bearing plants. It’s rather miraculous, when you think about it.
My kids love helping Emily and I water the garden. They fill up their little kid’s watering buckets and proudly pour a few drops on each plant. Yeah, it’s really cute.
They love all of the plants and are excited each day to see how much they’ve grown, and more importantly, if they’ve grown any new fruit or veggies to snack on! Ezra especially loves the snow-peas. They faithfully pump out new peas almost everyday.
While I was out watering the garden this morning, I started thinking about why I love gardening, and I had a thought; parenting a family is a lot like gardening.
“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” – John 15:2
Good Soil
The only way for a plant to bear good fruit is if it has good soil. It takes its nutrients and its very life from the earth; from its surroundings. It can’t create nutrients itself, it needs the gardener to fertilize its soil.
In the same way, children are fed by their surroundings. A healthy family life fertilizes the soil of our children. An environment of self-sacrificing love for one another and Christ, will provide an environment for our kids to flourish. Soil cultivated in prayer and God’s word will enrich the earth better than any compost. The witness of a father and mother who love the Creator God, will show them the beauties of growing up into maturity in Christ.
Watering
Tending a garden is not a one-time endeavor; it is a daily task. We’ve been having a small drought in southern ontario this Spring/Summer and this has meant watering our plants almost every day. This takes a lot of time, but the plants will stop growing and will wither without hydration.
As all parents know, raising kids isn’t a one-time endeavor either. It’s a daily task. Sometimes joyful, sometimes frustrating. We pour a lot into our children – but the question is what do we pour into them? Life-giving instruction about the Great Creator God for whom they were created, or simply life-skills to get by? Do we shower them with love and hope, or anger and cynicism?
Pruning
The secret to good fruit is pruning. Prune back a plant and you will get a 10-fold harvest.
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” – Hebrews 12:11
Often we need to gently prune our children. Discipline is an act of love; curbing destructive behavior before it has taken root. Defiance, apathy, and laziness will choke out the fruitfulness of any human. As parents, God has given us the task of gently shaping our kids – and showing them the joys of living within God’s created order. It is easy to just let rebellious behavior slide – to brush it off, but unless it is pruned back it will take over the entire plant. God says that He disciplines those He loves (Heb 12:6). And He calls us to do the same with our kids (Eph 6:4).
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ” – 1 Cor 3:6-7
God Gives the Growth
The good news for us as parents is that it’s not all up to us. God is the One who gives the growth. We prepare the soil and water our family garden, but ultimately the growth is God’s work.
Maybe I’ve taken this analogy too far. Any metaphor breaks down eventually. But as for me, gardening has taught me the love of tending living things. Let’s tenderly watch over, feed, and prune our most important garden of all – our family. And let’s remember that God is the life-giver and sustainer, we are but his gardeners.
