Planting Seeds
I love gardening.
I love planning to garden – shopping for heirloom plants, drawing garden plans, daydreaming about flowers and pole beans and trellises… I love coming home from my work day, throwing off my dress shoes, and just puttering: snipping a spent blossom here, picking a tomato there. Sometimes, I head to the garden before I check in on my family. It’s just a great place to decompress. And I love making food with the things we grow. It’s just magical.
But, most of all, it’s the seed that gets me.
The colors, the varieties, the sizes and shapes. And the unbelievable magic of planting this little, dry object that turns into a lush plant, full of flowers and bees and butterflies to entertain the eyes and tasty morsels to delight the palate. No matter how long I have been gardening, it still amazes me that one bean seed, left virtually unattended, turns into a lush vine that produces enough food for my family for the season.
Gardening reminds me that there is a God — God who can take something of no account and turn it, through His Power and Will, into something beautiful, something miraculous, something incredible. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but it is God who has been making it grow” {1 Cor 3:6}.
This blog is a reflection, not just of my love of gardening, but of my growing understanding that each thing we do is a seed of some sort, and each one yields fruit, each according to its kind.
The Seeds We Sow
In 2009, I was diagnosed with intraductal carcinoma – breast cancer. There is no family history of breast cancer, and my mammograms, up until then, had appeared normal, because I had dense breast tissue. But the 4 cm mass they removed from me told a different story.
That year was a year of new learning for us, as a family. We learned a lot about the logistical parts of having breast cancer: chemotherapy regimens, radiation schedules, recovering from surgery, working with a physical therapist, managing a zillion appointments, navigating family medical leave and what it’s like to lose your hair. But I also learned wonderful things that I couldn’t have learned otherwise: I learned how strong I really was in the face of a life-altering medical event. I learned how my husband could rise to the occasion of working, and going to school, and caring for me, and being full-time mom & dad during my treatment, without one word of complaint or dread. I learned that angels spring up around you in the most unlikely of places: the post office, the cubicle next to mine, the neighbor’s house, the grocery store. I learned that adult sons really love their mothers, and will pull ranks around mom in a minute, during tough times. I learned that I could be beautiful without eyelashes or eyebrows. But, most of all, I learned that God is God, no matter what we go through, and He keeps His promise to never leave us nor forsake us.
I learned that the seeds you sow in seasons of plenty, with God’s grace and love, come back as a bountiful harvest in seasons of need.
In this blog, you will read about some of the seeds God moves me to sow:
- Seeds of love: reflections on my walk as a Christian woman, wife and mother and the adventures of our family as we grow and learn together;
- Seeds of home: musings about gardens, growing things and other green stuff that I love; posts on frugal living, and posts on cooking, canning and other fun things I do that you can eat;
- Seeds of stewardship: our story of how we are becoming debt-free; and stories about all the DIY projects that are involved in rehabilitating an 1896 home;
- Seeds of learning: great ideas I want to share about blogging, homeschooling and running a small business.
You will also see an occasional link to one of my other blogs, where I share more of the fruits of my homeschooling and science consulting work.
Come to the Garden…
No matter whether you are dusting off your wheelbarrow to get planting, or gazing at a blanket of new-fallen snow, I invite you to come into my garden and share my seeds. I know you’ll find something that you can plant and enjoy!
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On Planting Seeds... 
Hi!
New follower.
I pray your healing is complete. And I do like the process of gardening soon. Hopefully, your blog will inspire me to start that potted garden.
Thumbs up.
Many blessings,
Obianuju Ayalogu
I am well. I believe that I was already healed before I started treatment, because Jesus is my doctor! Blessings…