What I Learned From My Father's Garden

When I was in middle school my dad decided to allow his old farming days as a kid come out into our backyard.  The task to create a garden area was quite a feat, but what I discovered was the hardest part of having a garden was the daily care needed for it to prosper; from watering, pruning, and harvesting!

Jesus shares a similar gardening story in the Scriptures through the parable called the Sower and the seed (Matthew 13:1-9).  In the parable, Christ talks about a Sower (God) that sows seeds upon 4 different types of ground; the hard path, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil.  Reading this passage, it was very easily to think that the Lord was talking about 4 different types of people.  But what I have come to discover in my own spiritual journey, is that the Lord is giving us the way to garden our own hearts, which like my dad's garden takes lots of work!

As I learned from my dad, to garden we first need to break up the hard and trampled ground.  In doing so, we discover rocks that need to be removed.  Once the rocks are removed, we can start removing the various types of weeds and thorns that would grow.  Eventually with the initial work complete, the soil would be ready for growing a fruitful garden. 

It is clear that my own spiritual journey didn't start with fruitful soil.  From high school to college I would say my heart was pretty hardened by any acceptance of the faith.  If you doubt me, you can talk to my cousin Jeanne!  It wasn't until college, that the Lord in a way pierced through the hard path.  But I soon discovered the rocks and weeds that would get in the way of the Lord.  15 years later, I can say the gardening of my heart has not been an easy task.  I continue to find old and new weeds sprouting and needing to be removed, rocks find their way into the garden, and the task just to bear simple fruit in my spiritual life is a task in itself.  It is clear the spiritual journey is a work in process!

Don't think my example is good enough?  I love reading the apostle's journey in the Scriptures!  The Lord spent three years with the apostles gardening their hearts.  Many times the Lord called them out saying that they were slow to hear and had little faith.  Think of how Peter did not want to hear about the Lord's upcoming suffering in Matthew 16, or how he denies Christ 3 times after telling Jesus he wouldn't!  But the most beautiful thing of the story was the Lord was patient with the Apostles, constantly forgave them, and worked tirelessly on their hearts so that on the day of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, they would bear tremendous fruit for His Church.  And do you think even then their labors in the garden of their hearts were complete?  No!  Look at St. Paul as he talks about his weakness in 2 Corinthians 12!  

Not only is gardening something that takes continuous effort, it is clear that once you stop taking care of the garden; the weeds return, the rocks re-appear, and eventually the once luscious garden returns to being a hard path.  Let us during this great time of Lent continue to work with the master gardener in tilling our hearts; let us remove the rocks and weeds that prevent the Lord from bearing fruit in our lives.  If we can do that, I can guarantee that the Lord will continue to bear fruit a hundred fold in our lives!