Each winter, as I begin planning and mapping my gardens, I do an online search for the most updated lists of endangered vegetable and flower varieties. God made this unique, beautiful bounty that comes from and sustains the earth and all that lives upon it. God called us to be stewards – caretakers who treat the land and what it brings forth with reverence, not convenience. So, I check the list of what is being diminished, I order seeds someone has saved, and I will plant them in the upcoming season.
Fortunately, our gardens do not solely rely upon our personal seed-saving efforts. God designed many seeds to glide and spiral through the air. Many seeds get attached to the bodies of all sorts of animals, are carried away in fur or on wings and are eventually dispersed some distance from the parent plant. Countless times I have thought to myself, I did not plan that there! I like to think the Holy Spirit is at work in this scattering of seeds, this commingling of life.
This message is excerpted from “Time to gather the seeds” by Venice Williams in the September/October 2021 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, martyr, c. 258.
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