Photos Of The Week - Gardening & Friendship

Gardening & Friendship

This week's photos are of life, beauty, and the bountiful harvest. All pictures are from my various gardens, with a few additional vegetables from Larissa's abundance.

I have long enjoyed gardening, especially planting things. I grew up on a farm, where my parents had corn, soybeans, wheat, and numerous animals. We also had a huge garden, and every summer I would help plant the garden. Oh how I loved to watch things grow during those hot, Ohio summer days! Even now, though quite a bit older in years, I still like to watch the transformation that occurs when you plant a seed and provide it with some encouragement along the way.

In many ways planting and harvesting a garden is similar to my relationships with people, especially here in Southern Sudan. I spend most of my time with local people, trying to intentionally invest in them and in our relationship. I am often trying to encourage, or challenge, or just merely be present with people.

I've had the joy of seeing people grow in their relationship with the Lord and in the way they approach their everyday life. I've seen some hard decisions made, and some setbacks along the way.

I've seen the beauty and transformation that occurs when you provide encouragement and intentionally invest in someone. I planted a watermelon several months ago, with little hope that it would actually survive. It survived the first month, but barely. It looked pitiful and only grew a few inches. I tried replanting it in more sun, and assumed it would die the next day. But for the next month it kept on struggling, not really growing at all, but merely existing somehow. Then, to my astonishment, it took off! It grew several feet each week and starting producing watermelons (though few) and now the vine looks great.

I almost threw that watermelon vine out after the first week, but instead decided to give it another chance in a different environment by moving it to a sunnier location. I think often people just need the right amount of encouragement and support systems in their life to truly flourish. So often I fail at relationships, and will likely continue to do so. But I am convinced that truly investing in people, and intentionally seeking them out in relationship, will reap great benefits for both people involved.

Some relationships are harder to grow than others, but sometimes the hardest ones are well worth the struggle.

My flowers, especially the zinnias, have grown like weeds! I have thousands of flowers in multiple places. American and wild marigolds, varying types of inpatients, hibiscus, and other flowering plants and shrubs have added color and beauty to my life here. They required little effort on my part, merely planting the initial seeds and watering occasionally, but have literally filled my life with explosions of varying shades of reds, oranges, whites, pinks, yellows, purples. Sometimes friendships come easy, and certain people just naturally encourage you by whom they are. These are rare in my life, but have produced much joy, laughter, and glimpses of heaven.

Dry season is looming here in Sudan, and no doubt many of my plants will wilt and die, but they have poured beauty, nourishment, and encouragement into my life. Some friends will come and go, but there is lasting value in each relationship, if even only for a season.

So whether your garden and relationships are blooming or merely surviving, I would encourage you that they are both worth the investment.