How Does Your Garden Grow?

Have you ever seen plots of farmland from the sky?  On a recent flight, I looked out the airplane window and saw what looked like a patchwork quilt on the ground below.  Each patch was a different color, size, and shape.  Some patches had borders of trees, some bordered water, and some had fences tracing their boundaries. Some had crisp geometric edges and some butted up to the edge of a winding creek.  They all fit together like the pieces of a puzzle or well, the patches of a quilt.

God spoke to my heart that day.  He said the body of Christ is a lot like this mosaic farmland.  Each patch represents one of my children.  The size of each patch is determined by the sphere of influence I have for them.   Uniquely shaped by the God-given purposes I created them for and the gifts and talents they’ve been given.

His Word tells us in Ephesians 2:10 NLT:

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

As I looked down at the farmland, each patch a varying shade of green, brown, or gold, the Lord shared that the different colors were from the different crops each child of His will harvest.  He said they are colored by the different facets of Me in them that produce fruit.  Some patches look brown because they are basically a plot of tilled ground either post-harvest or awaiting a new planting season. And who knew there were so many shades of green and yellow!

God created us on purpose and for a purpose.  He not only knew what size, shape, and color your garden patch would be, He designed you for it.

“Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace.”

1 Peter 4:10 TPT

In fact, in the beginning, God designed a garden “patch” for the first man, it was called the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 2:8 NKJV we read that God planted a garden in Eden, and in verse 15 we read:

“Then the Lord, God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

To tend means to cultivate, and take care of, not just work it.

The definition of ‘to tend to’ is this:

-to have the care of, watch over, look after

-to manage the activities and transitions of

-to be an attendant or servant

-to apply one’s attention, attend

Let’s also look at the definition of cultivate:

-to improve and prepare, as by plowing and fertilizing, for raising crops.

-to loosen or dig soil around growing plants.

-to foster the growth of

-to improve by labor, care or study

-to further or encourage

If you have ever planted a seed or a plant, you know that tending it is not just work, but tender hope, nurturing, and joy wrapped into watching something grow and reach its fruitful potential.  God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to tend and nurture it.  He did not task him with cultivating ALL of creation, but specifically the garden God planted and placed him in – his predestined territory and nothing more.  We also see in Genesis 2 and 3 that God is the One that planted the garden and decided what would grow there – trees for provision and trees for beauty.  God also is the One who set the boundaries of the garden and the boundaries for Adam.  God’s original design was for a divine partnership with Adam.  God planted, Adam tended and beauty and provision abounded in this place of relationship with the Creator.

Sin entered the picture and it changed things for Adam and Eve.  Sin always has consequences. And how did sin enter?  By satan questioning God’s original design and boundaries.  One of the ways we do that today is by comparison.  Basically questioning God’s original design for our life based on what we see in someone else’s life.  We must guard against looking over the fence and wondering if the grass is greener in our neighbor’s garden patch. 

When we start to question why we don’t have the same gifts as our neighbor gardener, or the same crop, or the same size of garden, the enemy can get a foothold.

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

Galatians 6:4-5 MSG

Theodore Roosevelt once said that “Comparison is the thief of joy.”  But it steals so much more.  God designed you with traits, gifts, and talents specific to the territory He planned for you.  He knew the exact people that would need the hope and encouragement that only a bouquet of flowers grown by your partnership with Him could give.

“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.  Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.”

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 NLT

Comparison either cheapens God’s purposes for you or His purpose for others, depending on where your heart is.  Instead, God designed us to live in unity.  He designed all of our garden patches to fit together, side by side, creating a stunning visual.

“Just as each one of you has received a special gift [a spiritual talent, an ability graciously given by God], employ it in serving one another as [is appropriate for] good stewards of God’s multi-faceted grace [faithfully using the diverse, varied gifts and abilities granted to Christians by God’s unmerited favor].”

1 Peter 4:10 AMP

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 15:5-6 ESV

“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery!”

Colossians 2:2-3 MSG

We were meant to encourage each other and serve each other while harmoniously working side by side.  Never jealous or dismissive but living confidently in the unique garden patch God has called us to cultivate while partnering in relationship with Him. I’m thankful for God’s creative wisdom that doesn’t settle for a giant field of green but revels in what a variety of colors and shapes can do for His master design.