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Gardening Growing Pains

Having a garden is a ton of work.  There's the planning, tilling, planting, waiting for germination, weeding, weeding and more weeding.  And don't forget the watering if you have sandy soil like we do.  When I'm down in the garden swatting mosquitoes, sweating and totally wrecking my nails I keep in mind the end product - fresh home grown produce.

Most times things go right, but when they go wrong it crushes me.  I become so emotionally attached to my plants that when the leaves curl or brown or wilt or become laden with chew holes I feel personally attacked.  I did all I could and yet, and yet this is what I get.  I know I sound unstable, but I bet those of you who have ever grown a garden know just what I mean.

So when my green bean leaves started looking like this: And the beans all grew in tight corkscrews: And they were covered in brown spots: I nearly cried.  Actually I did have a few tears well up, but I held them back for fear of looking unstable.  Three rows of beans planted, weeded and watered all for naught.  I was ready to give up, ready to pull out the plants so I didn't have to look at them everyday.  But then I regained my senses and prayed Jesus, I trust in you over and over again.  And I guess He thought this insane gardener really needed beans because after ignoring them for days I took a peek under the leaves and found thousands of straight, unmarred beans ready for the picking.  So I picked and picked and picked some more until 4 bags were full.  They weighed in at 40 pounds. And then I (with the help of Warren, Emily and Sam) canned 32 quarts. When you feel like giving up, pray, wait and then check back in.  No matter how silly you think your prayer request might be He's listening and will provide exactly what you need.  Amen. Labels: faith, gardening, prayer