Lessons From My GardenSample

Support

In my vegetable garden I grow many things vertically—cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes. Vertical growing takes up less garden space and the trailing plants don’t sprawl over the ground. This practice also offers less opportunity for insects and disease to hide in the tangle of vines. 

I plant pole beans (vining green beans) along a fenceline and watch for them to sprout. After the plant grows 4-6 leaves it sends out a long, skinny shoot. This little vine searches for something to grasp for support so it can continue its healthy growth. Without my training of the vine—helping it find the fence—the winding tendril will latch onto anything in its path, often a weed or a neighboring plant. In its search it will even trail into the path of the mower or weed eater. Sometimes the vines from separate plants will cling to each other, which offers a bit more support for the growing plants than the single, independent vine which found no reinforcement. But the strength of the entangled vines is never as supportive as the ones which have entwined themselves with a solid stake or strong fencing.

Such is the way of vines and hearts. Both must be trained, for they are always reaching for support. With great hope that we would reach for Him, God created us with a deep desire for more. Yet we often try to fill the void with food, drugs, alcohol...anything that will either numb the ache or attempt to satisfy the longings.

We even fasten ourselves to other relationships for our strength and fulfillment. This is not only an unfair expectation and dependency on others, but the relationships with our friends or our spouse risk being pulled and weighed down by our holding onto them for our personal fulfillment and security. 

We need the support, strength, and security of something—Someone—greater than ourselves, greater than others. He is stable, secure, and unmoving. Just as tendrils are trained to hold to the fence for support, we need to train our hearts and minds to be entwined with His and hold to Him. Dependent on Him, we gain supernatural strength to endure even the mightiest storms of life.

Where does your strength come from? Are you attaching to people or things hoping to find fulfillment and security? Or are you training your heart to be connected to the One who is Strength?