My gardening skills are 100% inspiration and 0% information. In the spring of 2022, I realized artichokes don’t start out pre-marinated in cute jars at Kroger and decided to plant 2 of my own in raised beds. I first blamed their lack of fruit on the scorching summer heat. With highs hovering at 109 for multiple days and no rain for months, I was pretty much on a productivity strike myself and couldn’t blame them. I finally did a Google search to learn they don’t produce fruit their first year! Figuring there was no way the two plants would survive a winter in raised beds, I pretty much wrote them off as a lesson learned. For some reason, rather than pull them up when winter came, I cut them back, covering their stumps with mulch. While the Texas winter was mild overall, there were several hard freezes and I figured my little experiments would never survive. Spring finally came and one of the plants, the one closest to the corner with more exposed sides, exploded out of the ground. I hadn’t given it any water, fertilizer, or attention since last summer. It’s seriously out of control and I hope doesn’t eat the zucchini plants sharing its bed.
This plant survived my poor gardening choices, a brutal summer, a cold winter, and virtual plant abuse at my hands, and yet, it is experiencing exponential growth. If that plant could talk, I’m sure it would have a powerful testimony of surviving against horrible odds. It strikes me that even if the plant could talk, only God knows what was really going on in its roots, what moisture sources sustained it during the drought, how it was protected during the freezes, and why it was the one to see a second spring.
Like my out-of-control plant, God is always working behind the scenes in our lives, nourishing our roots, protecting us from the elements, and carrying us to a new season of fruitfulness. We rarely see it while its happening, but in perfect hindsight vision, we view His provision, protection, and sustaining hand in our lives. It’s only when we take the time to pause and reflect in remembrance that we’re able to appreciate His behind-the-scenes authorship of our stories. When we see it, we need to tell it, to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our church members, and our coworkers. Go, tell your stories of Jesus!!!