Bloom!

Good morning from my kitchen garden!

The first sunflower to bloom for me this year is on a pretty sad looking plant. It got knocked over during a heavy rainstorm and then started growing crooked. Ever since I propped it back up (see my Summer Kitchen Garden Tour), its leaves have been wilted. Yet it blooms!

This beautiful flower is praising the Lord just by doing what the Creator designed it to do, no matter what trouble it’s had. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, we also can be what our Lord has called us to be—no matter what twists and turns we face in our lives. “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,” (Romans 8:28 NET).

I’m in need of this kind of encouragement! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted in this blog or sent out my newsletter. That’s partly because I have a computer problem which is still unresolved (I’m using my phone to post this) and partly because my doctoral classes have consumed much of my time. So it feels like my work has fallen over and gone a little crooked.

Yet according to the passage leading up to Romans 8:28, I can still live by the Spirit and seek the Kingdom of God—just like my sunflowers kept reaching for the sun after the storm pushed them over. No matter what my circumstances, I am to have my “outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. For the . . . outlook of the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6 NET). The Amplified Bible describes the Spirit’s outlook of life and peace as “the spiritual well-being that comes from walking with God—both now and forever.” If Paul had written this letter to the Roman believers in Hebrew, I think he would have used the word shalom. This Hebrew word means not only peace but welfare and wholeness. The shalom life is available to all who have been set free by Christ Jesus and now have the Spirit of God in them (Romans 8:2-17). Even though we live in a world that is trapped by sin and death, we know that “we have complete victory through him who loved us!” (Romans 8:37 NET). No matter what, we will bloom!

I’ve leaned away from my blog and newsletter, propping them up with a sporadic post or email here and there during the last couple of years. But I assure you that I’m still growing and blooming. And I didn’t have to set my passion for gardening aside, for I’ve continued to talk and write about gardening in my graduate classes. Every time I think about how God could use me to bring transformational change to the world around me, gardening is the answer. After all, my sunflowers, my garden, and all of creation, as Paul explains in Romans 8:18-25, are eagerly waiting for transformation, for God’s perfect shalom. That’s what God has planned for his people and his creation. While we wait for the ultimate transformation, we should walk according to the Spirit and enjoy the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here’s an update on how I’m doing that through my studies. One of the things I’ve done as a result of my classes is to form a network of Christians in the Chicago metropolitan area who are involved in any kind of garden related work. If you or someone you know fits that description, please contact me. The sooner you can get involved in the network, the better. I’m sure there are many more believers out there in the gardening world, but we don’t all know each other. I want to change that and to open up a channel of communication among us. Those who are not in the Chicago area could help this project by joining the prayer support team for it.

The next step in my doctoral program is to take the first of the courses which will guide me through writing my dissertation. That class is not offered this quarter, so I’ve got a little break until October to do other things, such as writing this post. I wish I could say that I’m propping this blog back up for good, but I know that working on my dissertation will make it even harder for me to do much blogging. However, I’ll still be writing about gardening. I don’t know how it will work out, but my idea for this dissertation is to explore how to use gardening to bring shalom to our communities.

Whether I’m working in my garden, or on this blog, or on my dissertation—whatever I’m doing—I’m blooming, just like that sunflower in my kitchen garden! Its leaves are wilted, and I may be, too; for I don’t always have my act together, and graduate school is hard. That poor sunflower may not be straight and tall, but it’s doing what the Creator designed it to do—and so will I. God’s purpose is going to work out ultimately, and it’s going to be glorious because our Creator is glorious.