Why God Started the World with a Garden by Rebecca Seaton

 

Why God Started the World with a Garden by Rebecca Seaton

                                                

  Having faith in growth.

When God made the world, He didn’t set Adam and Eve up in a palace or give them a city to populate, He gave them a garden to start from. ‘Then the Lord God made the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.’ (Genesis 215)

                                                          

                                                       Sacrificing windowsill space.

But why?

 

In working the garden, we

 

 …exercise faith. God had faith that Adam and Eve could tend the garden. They were intentionally placed there. But they had to space the plants, water them, harvest them, they couldn’t just sit there looking at them! I have to start writing if I want to finish the chapter.

…persevere. These first gardeners wouldn’t have known, like us, how long each plant takes to grow. Imagine their confusion as one thing sprouted quickly while another hadn’t started yet. They would have had to be persistent in their efforts, as we often have to be in our writing, particularly if we are experimenting in a genre or format new to us. We experience the same resilience when we make a choice to pray into an issue, continuing to seek God’s will rather than stopping when we don’t see instant results.

… learn to work alone and with others. I can do the basics but for a big garden project at work I’ve had to call on the vision of a more experienced friend to lead it, as well as others prepared to support the work or donate materials. Some tasks we can do alone and we can ruminate while rooting up, others we have to communicate our needs. Both are times where God can be teaching us. Writing is lonely at times: it’s often the right thing to hunker down and work but we also need times to share the load.

…see the fruits of our labours. Ultimately, we garden for a reason. Fresh strawberries taste better than supermarket fare, we want to have a particular colour scheme to look out on. The satisfaction of not just the thing we have but the thing we worked to have is a unique blessing, just as it is when that proof copy arrives.

 

What is God teaching you in the garden of your writing? For me, it’s a different way of being, trying to remember to spend time with the head gardener instead of wondering why my plants are growing funny as well as seeking advice from other gardeners. I had a significant time at the recent ACW jubilee day and it was essentially that fellowship among committed writers, under the leadership of Jesus, which made a difference to me. We just have to remember these simple truths when the weather’s bad and the snails are out!

 

                                                         

                                                              The finished product.

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #ACW     

 

Rebecca earned second place in the 2017-18 Pen to Print Book Challenge with her first novel, A Silent Song. She is currently working on a fantasy trilogy involving a prophet, a dodgy queen and a powerful relic.