My first garden was a disaster. Having avoided yard work all my life, I was ill-prepared for such an undertaking. And living alone in a Japanese neighborhood, with no one to tutor me, didn’t help either.

A previous renter had clearly defined a garden patch. All I needed to do was choose some seeds, plant them, and wait for the miracle to unfold. But that summer I learned that the miracle requires quite a bit of work. You don’t just scratch the surface of the soil, crawl on your hands and knees planting the seeds, and ignore the garden for the rest of the summer.

“Ignore” is not quite the right word. Many times throughout the summer I stood over my garden, looking desperately for some sign of life. But there was none, not the slightest indication that I had ever even planted a seed.

The years passed. I married a man with a deep love of the land. We moved to the family homestead. It was time once again to plant a garden.

While Tom faithfully nurtured a large, productive vegetable garden, three-year-old Tommy and I weeded and worked a small flower bed at the end of the porch. We extended it some and made a border of stones found in abundance in our yard. We transplanted the zinnia and marigold seedlings that we had started in the house. We spent time throughout the summer weeding and watering. And we waited. We waited, and we waited. Then slowly, surely, flowers started to grow. Higher and higher, a profusion of vivid color filled our garden space with more joy than I ever could have imagined. We had a garden!

Of course there are times when even the best farmers encounters circumstances beyond their control, and their yield is devastated. But growth is natural. You can expect it.

You do, however, need the right conditions, The soil needs to be worked. The seed needs to be carefully selected—just what is it that you want to grow? You need to know the requirements of the particular seed, and faithfully provide them, whether sun, shade, water, or just plain love. Occasional weeding is certainly important. And there is no substitute for patience. We’re seldom prepared for how much waiting is required. But unless the seeds are somehow defective, or absolutely wrong for the conditions, the miracle will occur. There will be a garden.

I remember the furious farmer at the feed store who, after seeding his entire lawn, watched carrots sprout all across his front yard. He had ordered grass seed and received carrot seed. It wasn’t the harvest he was expecting, but it was a harvest.

Are you a disillusioned gardener? You are just not convinced that you’ll ever see a harvest? Whether it’s a garden or a relationship or a precious child you are nurturing, you can expect growth.

Sow knowingly. Tend faithfully. Wait patiently. Trust your concerns to your loving Heavenly Father, Take Paul’s words to heart: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Ginger