I am not much of a gardener, but I want to try to get better. So, I am attempting to plant and grow a small vegetable garden this year, as well as planting different perennials in our yard. I was advised to wait until Mother’s Day to do most of my planting in order to avoid the potential for frost. That means – I’m in the middle of trying to get everything in the ground.

But like I said – I’m not a great gardener. It takes me a while to plant something – I have to triple check the directions for each item I’m planting, and I’ve even broken out a yardstick to make sure I’m spacing plants appropriately.

Now – what does this have to do with our faith? Well, the song “Kindergarten Wall” by Joh McCutcheon keeps coming into my mind. (If you want to listen to the whole song, go here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36gs36TJ-Y) The chorus goes:

Of all you learn here, remember this the best

Don’t hurt each other and clean up your mess.

Take a nap every day, wash before you eat

Hold hands, stick together,

Look before you cross the street.

Remember the seed in the little paper cup,

First the root goes down and then the plant grows up! (https://lyricstranslate.com)

Remember that the root has to grow down, and then the plant grows up. This is how it works for plants and also how it works in our faith lives. We need to make sure that we have planted ourselves in God, letting our roots grow deep in God, so that we can grow up and mature and produce the fruit of God.

How do we grow those roots? We read the Bible and study the word of God. We pray. We worship in a church community. We have holy conversations with one another – listening and learning from each other. The more we immerse ourselves in God, the deeper our roots and the better we can grow – meaning that we will produce more fruit for God and that we can better show and share God’s love and the good news of Christ!

Happy gardening – both in our yards and in our faith lives!