Spread it Around

“Never dig up in unbelief what you have sown in faith.” ~ J. Gordon Lindsay, American revivalist preacher, author, and founder of Christ for the Nations Institute (1906-1973)

When we first moved into our new house in Columbus, Ohio I started thinking about the garden I had always wanted. As soon as the spring weather cleared, I found myself in the backyard stripping the sod with a mattock. My garden patch was sixteen feet by the width of our lot along the back fence line. Then I turned the earth by hand with a spade. It was slow, back-breaking work.

Throughout my childhood, my grandparents had lived next door. They had a gigantic garden with a variety of veggies. I was often called upon to help harvest the produce, but the details of preparing the soil, planting and growing had somehow never been communicated. On the other hand, perhaps I just wasn’t listening.

Now I found myself wishing I had paid closer attention. My shovel work finished, I proceeded to try to make rows and plant seed. The ground was hard, lumpy and pale, not soft and dark like my Grandparent’s garden. It was difficult, if not impossible to make nice, straight furrows for planting. It was a wonder anything grew at all.

In mid-summer, my in-laws drove out from Pennsylvania to visit. My father-in-law, Pete, had been an avid gardener for many years. Early on I had bragged about putting in a garden. Now, I was hoping he would forget I had said anything. It was, however, impossible to avoid noticing something which covered the entire back third of the lot. Within minutes of their arrival, he poured himself a cup of coffee and headed out the back door toward the garden with me trailing behind.

He stood staring at the lumpy dirt and scrawny plants for a very long time. “What do you think?” I asked finally.  Pete scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. “Did you add any topsoil when you started?” “No, why?” was the only answer I could muster. “Did you add any soil amendment?” “What’s soil amendment?” I asked sheepishly. Pete glanced at me sideways for a moment then returned to studying the garden. “You don’t happen to know the pH of the soil, do you?” By now I was wondering how I could steer him back to the house.

“The contractors strip the topsoil when they grade for these housing developments,” he said finally. “What you have here is mostly clay and backfill. I hope you at least used a roto-tiller…” My silence answered his question. “You did this by hand?” He looked at me with an expression that was a mixture of pity and admiration.

“Let’s see if we can fix this,” he said finally. “Get me a sandwich bag from the kitchen so I can take home a sample to test.” Dutifully I went off to retrieve the bag, wishing I had spent my summer playing golf.

For the rest of the summer I followed his careful instructions. A truckload of top soil and bags of soil amendment were tilled into the garden using a rented tiller. Papa Pete checked the pH before and afterwards, recommending some additional nutrients to balance the acidity.

When I finished, the local garden supply mega-store still had some bedding plants in stock, so I was able to get a few plants in the ground before fall and managed to reap a late harvest of tomatoes and peppers. So much for all the money I was going to save growing my own produce!

We are sometimes critical of those who leave our faith tradition or don’t “get it” the way we do. Then we wonder, are shocked, or put off because another faith tradition provides them with a simpler solution to their belief in Christ.

Our faith is a garden with wonderful opportunities and capacity to produce in abundance. But this does not mean that faith happens by itself. Our “garden” needs tending; it needs to be nurtured and we need the help of others to provide guidance and direction.

I grew up in the midst of a wonderful garden with grandparents who knew just about everything there was to know about gardening. And yet, my own attempts were misguided and unproductive. I knew how to go through the motions (digging and putting seeds in the ground) but I knew nothing about what it meant to plant and nurture.

What I needed was someone like Papa Pete to patiently walk me through the process, carefully explaining and showing me the “why’s” and the “wherefore’s.” Sometimes we need to be that same patient person in the faith journey of others.

We are called to be “productive” Christians. It is not enough to be secure in the fact that our Faith-garden is cared for and thriving. We must share the secrets of growing our faith with others.  Faith is like fertilizer; we need to spread it around to make things happen.

Dear God: Show me how to help others grow in faith.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, travel writer (1850-1894)

©2012 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.

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