Yesterday, my lovely wife and I exerted some physical effort to prepare the soil for putting in the plants today.  I really enjoy the toil of digging dirt, of kneeling down and putting my gloved hand in God’s humus.  After all, that’s where we come from, the dirt.  I feel connected.  Landscaping and gardening reminds me of our beginnings.  It reminds me of God’s faithfulness and love for us.

Today, we got the plants and mulch to finish the job.  But like God’s work with us, we are not finished yet.  Every day, life on this planet changes and we must work some more.  Gardening reminds me of this.  The work on this Earth continues.

Yet, I was reminded yesterday, that disease and death are part of this plan.  I held a woman who has cancer.  Her bright smile told me that she too, is still gardening.  In spite of this disease wreaking havoc on her previously healthy and physically fit body, she was vibrant and positive.  Despite the loss of all her hair, she donned a wig and participated in life.  I was reminded that death lurks in this world, to take all of us.

It is the cycle of the garden, to be born, to sprout, to toil, to die.  My hope is in the eternal life that Jesus promises those who hear his voice and follow him.  The women with cancer yesterday, showed the ravages of cancer, yet beamed out the light of the Lord.  I could see that her life was eternal.  As her body one day will die, as all of ours will, she showed her faith in the eternal.