GARDENER WOES

This  isn’t my actual acorn squash plant, but it resembles mine quite a bit. I’m a novice gardener by no stretch of words or imagination. I’m one of those people who expects to plant a seed or small starter plant and nothing will go wrong. The sun and rain will automatically nourish. I’ll water when needed, pull out some weeds…maybe. 

In the fall of 2022 I saved a seed from an acorn squash. I actually taped one tiny seed to a 3×5 card and tucked it away in a drawer. Spring arrived and I put my precious seed in some potting soil inside a red plastic drinking cup. Set it on the window ledge above the kitchen sink and waited. I didn’t have to wait long! My lil guy sprouted and when I thought he was healthy enough I moved him to the back of the garage next to my cucumber and tomato plants.

I anxiously watched as my lil sprout gained strength…added on vines and leaves….observing when several orange blossoms formed and behold!–there is a beautiful squash on one of the vines. Success! Pure joy. Makes up for the lilies, geraniums, beets….

I love the deer who visit our yard, but they’re on my “naughty list’. They’ve managed to eat every last potential lily bloom … .have devoured budding geraniums…cleaned up the beet greens, thus, no mature beets for this gal to enjoy cooked and nestled in fresh greens or roasted in the oven.  Thankfully, they’ve left the yellow beans alone as well as my green peppers. 

Gardening is a lot like life. We have our best intentions. We lay out a plan. We begin to follow it and then “life happens”. An unexpected illness. Relationships get fractured. Friendships change. Expectations for a successful project go awry. 

But God.

He is constant. He is faithful. Like the sunshine and rain that automatically nourish my lil garden plants, He showers me with love, grace, hope, and encouragement. He sees my need for protection from elements that could cause me harm….He holds back stormy winds and steadies my boat. He doesn’t only do this during a short growing season like that of a plant, He does it every day, every hour…most often when I’m not paying attention. Why? Because I belong to Him. I’m His child.

As I watch my cukes, squash, beans, peppers and herbs grow I am waiting anxiously to enjoy their bounty. Each summer day brings me one meal closer to a bountiful harvest–although I will admit I’ve enjoyed a few cukes already and a picking of fresh yellow beans rounded out of my lunches this week. Somehow I’ve squeaked out some radishes, swiss chard, and arugula, too. 

Yes, I love my little garden plants. Deer? Well, not so much right now. I think I like them better in the winter when all that’s left to dine on is dead plants and pine needles from our trees. God? I like Him year round.

When I saw a dear friend’s social media post about her son’s recent visit to a major college, anticipating making his decision where to attend classes following high school graduation in June of 2024, I began ruminating about “higher education” versus “going into the job market”. Before you think I have any strong feelings toward either pursuit, think again. I actually believe both paths lead to purpose and satisfaction in the life of an individual. Certainly, past generations have been known to place emphasis on “getting that college degree” while within those conversations were voices that encouraged joining the workforce immediately upon leaving high school.

In my own immediate family, of us three kids, one has a college degree, used to teach welding to college and high school students. One learned the techniques of great salesmanship and made a career in a major insurance/investment company. Me? I got a business certificate, landed a banking position where I stayed for 20 years before relocating to our present home.

In my father’s family, each of the 11 excelled according to their gifts. The oldest chose working for General Motors. The oldest girl ran assisted living in her own home. Of the remaining  boys, an older uncle enlisted in the Air Force and retired as a Full Colonel. Next in line, another older uncle learned automobile mechanics and eventually landed a position selling Pontiacs & Cadillacs in Flint, often being named as “top salesman” for the month. Two of the siblings graduated from Spring Arbor College, one in full time ministry, the other with an elementary teaching degree. A younger uncle was very talented with construction, owning and operating his own company building residential homes. My youngest uncle dropped out of high school his senior year, joined the Army and became so proficient in electronics that following the end of World War II he was hired by IBM where he worked until retirement. My own father returned from the Korean Conflict, got hired by the City of Saginaw in the parks and recreation department. When a job posting was issued for a building permits clerk he applied. After being overlooked for the position, he stayed with the city until to his surprise he was called to reconsider the permits clerk position. The first guy didn’t work out with the duties. From there dad became a building inspector and by the time I was in high school he was given the position as Chief Building Inspector. My aunt who was closest to dad’s age chose to be a homemaker and was the most sought out mentor within my cousin group.  The youngest member of the siblings, an aunt, was content to marry and raise her family or four children as her husband worked as an engineer in the automobile industry. She used her musical talents to serve in their local church.

Mike Rowe, nationally known television personality, is one of my favorite people who speaks up about “not everyone needs to go to college”. He fascinates me every time I hear him speak or watch him on one of his programs. Mike does a fantastic job of bringing respect, awareness, and information to his audience. 

I visited his website and scrolled through many job postings, the ones in demand. At the top of the list are diesel mechanics, heavy equipment operators, and automotive technicians. Another site (salary.com) listed these professions: dental hygienist, derrickman (oil rigs), executive housekeeper, firefighter, locomotive engineer, medical lab technician, personal trainer, police officer, plumber. These are hard jobs…some have dangers that come with them…all require training plus some time in a classroom. All are necessary.

I’m fascinated by the number of “Now Hiring” signs that are visible wherever I go throughout my travels whether it’s weekly errands or a trip out of town. Moreso, I’m flabbergasted at what some jobs are paying in order to attract workers. If I was my 18 year old self you can bet I’d snatch up one of those $18 an hour jobs in a hurry. I tried to remember my starting pay back in 1972 when a small community bank hired me at age 19. Believe me, it wasn’t a large number, but I was thrilled to be working full time, still dreaming big things for myself and my future.

I’m thankful for the examples in my family that showed success comes with hard work whether there’s a degree on the wall or sweat on the brow. We kids were raised to give an employer our “best”, to be honest, people of integrity, that all work matters. I saw that with my Aunt Joy who cared for elderly women in her home, showing love and compassion as aging minds made daily life harder with each passing year. I heard memories from my Aunt Esther’s years of teaching in elementary school . Her compassion and dedication to her students came as a reflection of her faith in God. I lived hearing and personally witnessing how my dad handled difficult situations in a city that experienced a lot of changes in his long career. Their stories were different, but the bottom lines were the same…show up. Work hard. Do your best. Be honest. Show compassion. Do those things every day, every week, every year you’re “on the job”.

The best bottom line that sums up my thoughts is this. Found in Colossians 3: 23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”.

High paying job? Sure is a great thing. An “inheritance from the Lord”? Priceless.

No matter what path you chose, or will choose, I pray you heed the admonition declared in this beautiful verse.

Last week I wrote about how myself and several childhood friends managed to damage Mr. Rader’s wheat because we made a portion of his crop our personal playground. If you missed that post, you may want to locate it and read through it to get an understanding of our antics and the lessons I could apply to an early childhood memory.  This week, I have another memorable experience–that, looking back, has allowed me to glean wisdom from as well. It seems that growing up across from a farm which was bordered by wild grasses, swamp and a river afforded much to enjoy, discover, and learn from during summer vacations from school.

When Mr. Rader didn’t plant wheat, his fields yielded a crop of beans or sugar beets. The latter–those big brown oddly shaped beets–were a source of curiosity to us kids on a hot summer day as they grew under weeks of sunshine and ample rain. We didn’t know anything about sugar beets. Surely because the word “sugar” was part of their name they would taste great, right? A carefully hidden paring knife from our mom’s kitchen drawer became the perfect tool to begin cutting through the outer layer of skin to get to the yummy insides of what had to be a delectable feast waiting inside that yummy treasure. 

If you’ve ever peeled a sweet potato or a big squash, then you have a bit of an idea of the struggle we had trying to strip away the dirty outer layer of our sugar beet. We couldn’t wait to cut off a chunk of the white insides and begin chewing to our heart’s content. Boy, were we wrong. All that work and the hard white flesh of the beet in our mouths, chewing away, waiting for the “sweet” to kick in never happened. As we threw the mangled beet to the ground, we spit out the remains of chewed “nothingness”, disgusted and disappointed. We frantically tried to reason and understand how sweet sugar came out of something we had encountered as being completely opposite!

Through no actual fault of our own immaturity, our expectations were based on lack of knowledge and false hope.

Psalm 34: 8 says “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him”.

Our vast world offers much to see, experience, and enjoy. Much like Mr. Rader’s field, which was bordered by our road, a swamp to the west, the Saginaw River to the south, where we live has physical borders, too, and as each one of us grows from childhood into becoming an adult, ideally,  emotional and spiritual borders are laid down to establish healthy and wise habits. Living in an imperfect world, one that has been ravaged by the wear and tear of man’s sinful nature, temptations and unhealthy habits surround us. Unless we are taught to seek God, to grow in understanding and wisdom from Him, our lives can and will remain much like an unprocessed sugar beet–bitter, tasteless, disgusting, until properly processed into what we know as pure sugar–a taste that most of us certainly enjoy and has countless uses!

One of my favorite phrases is “things are not always as they appear”. To my 10 year old self, that odd brown root vegetable looked like a source of absolute sugary delight to satisfy a sweet tooth, but actually turned out to be a major disappointment. As I look back on my life–and as you do the same–how many times can we admit we’re being enticed by “something” or “someone” actually leading us to disappointments or hurts?

In Celebrate Recovery, we help men and women face the hardships that come into our lives, whether by personal choice or not. In our 12 step program, we use step number 4 as a tool to pursue healing:  “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”.

Akin to peeling a sugar beet root with a small paring knife, reflecting on our lives and writing down our hurts, either from the result of actions against us, along with how we have harmed others, is hard work pays which pays off when we admit and share our “inventory” with a trusted human being.

Celebrate Recovery is a world wide ministry which has had the privilege of witnessing tremendous results of healing for thousands of people. These people–myself included–have indeed “tasted and seen that the Lord is good” and we now “live in His refuge”. Hurts, habits and hangups have and continue to be released, replaced by confident hope that only God provides by pursuing Him with the reading of scripture and living within healthy boundaries that protect worldly deceptions.