Find Your Growth Spot

She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

Proverbs 31:22

Granny loved to be outside in the midst of God’s creation.

From as far back as I can remember, Granny tended a vegetable garden and planted flowers. In the spring, her favorites included geraniums, ferns and daffodils. I remember gladiolas in the summer, mums in the fall and pansies in the winter. Of course, Christmas always called for poinsettias.

She must have had 50 pots of flowers, herbs and other plants around her house. And that doesn’t even include what she had planted in the ground. She also loved cut flowers. 

She never had an automatic sprinkler system. She watered them all by hand. For the most part, she just loved being outside. We tried to persuade her not to rake leaves, but she continued to do that anyway – right up until the week before she died.

I’m fortunate to have part of Granny’s garden at my house. She gave me some of her iris bulbs about 12 years ago, and I have a special bed just for them outside my bedroom window. 

I don’t really have much of a green thumb or patience for growing things. However, I do manage to grow herbs. I’m probably successful with that because they don’t require too much care. They are kind of like weeds – especially mint.

Granny liked my herb garden. So for Mother’s Day last year, I gave Granny some herbs and planted them for her.

Suddenly, now I feel the urge to garden more. There’s something therapeutic about planting and watching things grow. I’m planning to get some mums for the fall.

What about you? What are you growing? Even if you’re not growing plants, are you growing children? Grandchildren?  Even more importantly, are you growing spiritually?

If you’re not involved with a small group of women, consider finding one at your church or a parachurch organization like Bible Study Fellowship. 

Just like a flower in a garden, we weren’t meant to grow alone.

Stacy