Gardening With God

Did you know that God is a gardener? It says so right in the second chapter of Genesis: “Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden….” And God doesn’t even need to sit around looking at seed catalogs all winter; with a word God can create new varieties of, say, purple tomatoes or red bananas.

Interestingly, God doesn’t plant a garden until after humans have been created; then, “The Lord God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” It appears that God intended to enter into a partnership with humans. What better way to get to know someone than to work with him or her? We learn something about the mind of God when we see beans grow on runners and learn that cinnamon can be harvested from the inner layer of bark of certain evergreen trees. In turn, God delights in our persistence, patience, and ingenuity in creating gardening tools and techniques.

I also suspect God set us to cultivate and care for the earth because, like any wise parent, God knows we appreciate things more when we have to work for them. Eating sweet corn you have grown and picked yourself is far more satisfying than buying it from the store. Furthermore, cultivating plants teaches us to respect the wisdom of the earth regarding balance and conservation and helps us learn how to nurture life.

I’m grateful that God is a gardener, for it means that God is down to earth, appreciates beauty, and knows how to sustain creation. I look forward to seeing what we’ll grow together come springtime.