Gardens and Seasons

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GARDENS

Genesis 2:8     Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed.

Proverbs 28:19     Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty

Song of Solomon 2: 11,12     For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.  

Ecclesiastes 2:5     I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

Isaiah 61:11     For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 65:21     They will build houses and dwell in them’; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Jeremiah 29:5     Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce   

Ezekiel 34:26.27     I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in the season; there shall be showers of blessing. Then the tress of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase.    

Amos 9:14     and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.  “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

SEASONS 

Genesis 8:22     As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.

Psalm 74:17     It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; You made both summer and winter.

Psalms 104:19    He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2     There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

Daniel 2:21     He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others.  He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

Acts 14:17     Yet He has not left Himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons: He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

 

I love the spring, summer and fall, and actually don’t mind the winter too much living in North Carolina. But by far the warmth and progressively longer days of end of winter and early spring are my favorite times.

I did not enjoy gardening when I was young.  Both my mother and grandmother would get out for a couple hours and weed and tend, while I thought it a hopeless task, that like laundry and dishes never seems to fully end.  But the good Lord changed my mind in my early twenties.  My initial plan when I first moved to this small home, was to just put in a dash of color with some flowers.  The house was old, built in 1904, and was just ugh!  It needed a little sprucing and money was limited and tightly budgeted, but I could spring for some flowers for a bit of color.  

I dashed off and purchased a few plants–couldn’t now even tell you what I planted–I just wanted color and since I had NO idea of flowers, type of dirt that’s better for certain plants to thrive in, I was lucky to purchase some that did ok.  And each morning leaving for work, I could smile at the happy little blossoms and their colorful thriving, and then smile again when they “greeted” me at the end of my workday.

I’ve ;earned a little more over the years.  Preferences for shade versus full sun, which are perennials and which need to be planted and nurtured each year, I can identify a weed from an errant growing plant.  Each season, I turn it over to God.  I’m out there pulling weeds to keep the selfish things from thwarting the flowers growth and health, and that I’ll be rewarded by the pretty colors and blossoms. Then I watch the little lizards or chameleons spring about, admire the pretty butterflies and bees that feed, pollinate and keep the cycle going. How magical it seems!   After years of thinking my mother and grandmother were doing another never-ending task, I find myself doing the same.  I get such satisfaction from it.  It’s rewarding, and the colorful blossms are happy and the bees and butterflies who come to visit make me smile; and in the Fall, we are on a direct path the Monarch butterflies use to fly back to the deep South, Mexico and such.  The Monarchs love the lantana stops on their journey and it is an experience to see thousands flying and stopping along their way in different gardens nearby to suckle some nectar from one of my plants. 

 Yet God had a purpose for creating and using some animals and insects to benefit from the blossoms and plants. There is such an interdependence we all have. But how lovely it is to see the blooms, even in a field of wildflowers showing off their pretty colors while dancing in the breeze; certainly a gift from the Creator.

He’s blessed us with so much if we just pause and look; take a deep breath and smell the flowers, the damp earth, the ocean if you live near enough; the sounds of birds singing, bees buzzing, hummingbirds whizzing by. There is so very much that one has as a daily blessing.

I see so much more, appreciate so much more in the spring. I tend to make a mad dash from car to shelter in the winter, and spend more time avoiding the early dark evenings, the cold; and then I do a little happy dance on December 22–the shortest day of the year.  And I watch and pay close attention to the increased minutes of longer days and enjoy the bit more of sunlight.  I have more energy and lightness of heart.

Thankfully, I savor enough blessings throughout the three seasons of color, gardening and so forth that I pull out my memories for the more dismal days of winter.

Thank you, God for the blessings of each season and all You’ve given me and ‘mybellaviews!’