And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Genesis 1:11
I started propagating crops with scraps that I found in our refrigerator and I cut bottles and got some soil and placed them in an old refrigerator that we had outside.
I started out with two garlic cloves, the white part of two scallions and the top of two carrots (I know a carrot will only give me seeds) and by the next day, I saw progress and that motivated me to keep going and I took a photo everyday to remind me of my progress and little did I know that a gardening photo journal would keep me consistent until this very day.
I was so excited and then one day, I went to look at my crops and behold, something had bitten into it. I was so enraged and disappointment but somehow, not discouraged.
I decided to shake it off and continue like nothing happened. I know you are to have some sort of repellant but the thought of making something or buying something seemed too much for me. So, I simply put it back to see if that part would still grow and if not, what would happen.
Scallions are said to be ready to use in 14 days and this happened on my 7th day; within the week that is was to be ready for me to start using in my dishes.
I also propagated some turmeric and the pests love it. Once they are being fed, it means I have lots of work to do.
Now, what have I learnt from all this!
1. God hides us for a reason
Most of the times, it is for our own protection. The pests only started targeting my crops when they were above surface and started to have a savoury aroma and started to look good. If you have not been trained to endure whilst under ground (being in lack, struggling, fighting to overcome an addiction etc.), you will not be able to protect what God will bless you with. You will give up easily if you have not been in a situation long enough to learn the lesson.
If you are in a situation that you keep praying to God to come out of and it seems like He is not present, understand that like a good father, He is present always. Every good father wants their child to be mature enough to conquer the world. Take time to see what God in showing you in that moment and you'll realize that knowledge is indeed the key to freedom.
2. Being submissive does not mean being controlled
When the Bible says, a man leaves his parents to cleave to his wife and they become one flesh, it means they are one. Through gardening, I understood what it meant to be one with Christ. It simply means submitting my will to His. In doing that, my identity can be revealed; things that I thought I disliked, in reality I do not and that is because when you love and appreciate God, you will love and appreciate the things that He appreciates without even thinking too hard about it.
In the beginning, God made the earth and everything in it and every time He said it was good but when He made man and everything was complete, He said it was very good. The moment you can establish a connection with God, where whatever He says goes, it will not be difficult to establish that connection with your spouse. You will notice that you do things without even thinking about it because everything about your spouse becomes a part of you. To be honest, being a Child of God is easy and I am not lying to you. I am literally just being myself and that is not hard.
3. The devil does not like to see progress
At first I was going to say that some people do not like to see progress, but we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Too many times, we think that the devil can only use people to hinder our progress but best believe that he can manipulate animals as well. I have first hand experience with this.
I remember working on something and I was on track with time to get to church the next day and an insect flew straight into my ear and got stuck. I mean, it did not pitch, nor was I aware of its presence nearby, it just flew straight into my ear. I was not even standing still; I was working, walking to and fro, and bam, it happened.
We were at the hospital for a few hours until early Sunday morning and I later realized after I came from church, because I still went, that the aim was to get me to not to go church because there was something in the service that would push me towards the will of God for my life.
When it seemed like nothing was going on for my crops, nothing even touched it until it started to flourish. For some, family will opt out of investing in your small business because your not earning enough to pay all the bills, but the moment you begin climbing, those petty investors will want to come to you for a loan, of which you should just consider a gift because the chances of getting it back is super low. Every time I would complete an order and I'm now with my profit, that is the time I see people coming to ask for money and I am thinking to myself, how do they know?!
The devil hates progress. Anyone you come across that dislikes seeing people progress is being manipulated by the devil.
4. It is not always about you
In the moment when you feel weary and discouraged thinking that the thing God promised you is not coming, stop thinking about you for a second and you'll notice that you have solely been thinking about you and your feelings all this time.
When the pests ate my plant, I could not eat it. Some had to be replanted whilst the growth of others were slowed down. Always remember that God blesses us through people. Sometimes you need to stop praying about the thing you are trusting God for and start praying for the people that are bringing that thing to you; the person/persons that God is sending to bless you. Although you are the target, at some point of the journey they become a target, where the devil's aim is to keep them far away from you as possible.
If God made a promise to you and you begin feeling discouraged, weary and exhausted, let this be your sign to worship. Think of the telepathic bond that twins are said to have. If you are connected to God, you are connected to the blessings that He has for you, which means, if your blessing is under attack, you may start feeling some strange way for no reason. Sometimes, suddenly you wake up exhausted when you did nothing all day, that is because something is going on in the spirit. Anything that drains your energy is not of God. I would like to believe that is the spirit of discernment at work. It is a sign that the thing that you are trusting God for is coming.
5. Worship takes many forms
I never understood what the Lord had me doing when I started gardening. He literally placed me in a position where I was worshipping Him without even trying. We were created to worship, which means we are always worshipping something and anything that we worship that is not God is an idol.
I have felt exhausted and weary before and I have been wondering, how is it that things are different this time. The exhaustion did not even last a week when it lasted weeks the first time, then I realized that it was because I have been worshipping. Do not think that worship only means closing your eyes and lifting your hands. If we can worship God by giving, can you imagine the things we can do to worship Him?
There are so much more lessons but I will stop here. The last thing I will say is that you will never be consistent in doing something if a desire is not there.
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