Gardening has always been commended by men for its social and therapeutic benefits. For those who were raised on farms or in the countryside, for example, growing plants may be in your veins. You know the importance of growing a vegetable garden. You also know gardening is a way for preschool and elementary-aged kids to improve skills like measuring, counting and sorting into colors and other different categories. However, as someone who was not born with a “green thumb”, I can testify how the lockdown brought me closer to nature like never before.
I know I’m not the only one. While we were all stuck at home, gardening gave many stir-crazy individuals a new relaxing recreational activity. Many started their own veggie gardens; some started curating their outdoor space with petunias, fuchsias and pelargoniums while others filled terracotta pots with evergreens. Compared to some experts’ predictions, the post-lockdown period didn’t lead to a fall in the “craze” but rather escalated with an increased demand for landscaping services, gardening books, sowing seeds and gardening equipment.
There’s no denying it; gardening did help many of us to overcome the strains of being trapped at home. However, the more we were connected with nature, the more believers’ eyes were opened to the creation of God.
When you are a firm believer and follower of Christ, you’ll be more than willing to apply your Christian faith to your everyday life. Knowing your faith is one thing, but putting it to work in everything you do and say and wherever you go is a different matter.
But, today I’m here to tell you that if you are a Christian and a fan of gardening, how about seeking God’s will or Biblical direction for that one thing you love and enjoy doing?
Seed Germination
Seed germination is defined as a complex yet fundamental process determined by the interaction of metabolic, genetic, hormonal and environmental elements. It is a sum of events that leads to the growth of a plant contained within a seed.
The meaningful process starts when water gets into the seed coat of the seed, which was previously almost completely dry during a period of dormancy. The water then causes the seed to swell. And, the swelling reaches a point when the seed coat is ruptured.
For scientists and for many of us, this is just a natural or chemical process for plants. However, believers see it as a marvelous process created by God.
A few theologians compare the germination process with the swelling of God’s seed, when Jesus was agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane as He knew He was about to face death and so He sweated drops of blood.
“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
– From Luke 22: 44
As we read further in 1 John 5: 7-12, we find that just like how the outer part of a seed dies and oxygen is absorbed by the inner seed, similarly, Jesus died in the flesh but was given life through the Holy Spirit who raised Him from the dead.
“For there are three that testify:
the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 1Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
