The Miracle of the Garden

My garden inspires many emotions. Sometimes it is frustration when it seems that my weeds have weeds. Sometimes it is satisfaction when a plant combination works just right or a flower blooms to perfection. Underlying all is the knowledge that it is not my skill, persistence, or luck that makes my garden grow. One of Jesus’ parables uses the miracle of the garden to explain the Kingdom; conversely it tells us how gardens grow! A garden is a reminder that God is the creator and sustainer of all things.

26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
Mark 4:26-29 (NIV from BibleGateway.Com)

The miracle of the garden is the topic of Jan Karon’s sweet little book, The Trellis and the Seed. This picture book is attractive both for its art, by Robert Gantt Steele, and its story of a little seed who becomes something far more than anyone ever expected.

The Trellis and the Seed: A Book of Encouragement for All Ages
by Jan Karon
Paintings by Robert Gantt Steele
Viking Juvenile (April 14, 2003), ISBN: 0670892890