Finding God in the Garden: Seedlings in the Wind

There are so many benefits to growing a garden   ̴ physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Getting my hands in the soil is good for me.

Getting active in the garden is good for me.

Growing nutritious, clean food is good for me.

If you read my previous “Finding God in the Garden” blog post, you know the garden is where God meets me…and that is good for me too.

He even meets me in the work preparing for the garden.

I was having a really hard couple of weeks.  Everything was just piling up.  I was getting worn down, and I was starting to lose it a bit. One incident lead to another.  And then there was a final incident that just BROKE the camel’s back (me being the camel).

I called a friend, and her response….”cry out to Jesus”.

And I did.

I stewed over my problems as I was working at preparing the soil for this year’s garden.  In my crying out to Jesus, there was a lot of “why” and “how am I supposed to respond to all that is happening?”.

And, as always, He answered my call.

The wind was getting really strong.  I had been transferring all my seedlings outside during the day to flourish in the sunshine.  As the wind picked up, I thought I should probably take all the seedlings back inside and out of the wind. My initial thoughts were to protect them from the wind.

But as I looked upon the seedlings and watched their little stems yielding under the strength of the wind, I remembered….

Wind blowing on a small seedling actually helps the plant create a stronger stem. 

Wind is essential to the natural process.

You see each time a plant is pushed by the wind, it releases a hormone called an auxin that stimulates the growth of supporting cells. Plants that begin growth in the absence of wind tend to fall over or break more easily that those grown in the presence of some wind. 

And it occurred to me, I am just like my seedlings.

God allows the storms in my life, and the strong gale force winds, not to break me but to help me, to strengthen me.  Because God loves me, He wants me to grow, He wants me to flourish.  But in order to grow and flourish, I need to be strong.  Strong in Him.

Storms of life are essential to my growth.  If shielded from every storm that came up, I’d be weak and quick to break. 

Just like the wind pushing against the seedlings, the gale force winds of my life were pushing against me.  Not to break me, but rather to strengthen me.  And just as the seedling needed to endure the winds, so did I. And just as God uses the wind to make the plants grow strong, He allows storms in my life to strengthen me.

                “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.” Isaiah 42:3