“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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