...for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 7-8

Gardens are magical. Whether a formal garden with carefully arranged flowers, trees, shrubs and decorations or a humble backyard vegetable patch,  there is something about a garden that causes the visitor to breathe deeply, pause and admire and feel life. 

If a garden is planted with poor seeds or sickly plants it will be hard to cultivate and difficult to harvest good things. 

I know a woman, though, who waits until the last of the gardening sales to buy half dead plants at the lowest prices. She has a limited budget and a grand plan. Then she takes them home, plants them in good soil, fertilizes and nurtures them and with much time an devotion they revive and bloom and by the end of the growing season you would never know how her garden started differently than her neighbors. 

Perhaps we have sown poor seeds. Perhaps we have offered withered plants of kindness and generosity. Perhaps if we "soweth to the Spirit," if we water our offerings in the love of Christ and the mercy of God perhaps we shall "reap life everlasting."

Counting it all joy,

Julie