I notice it
most in the fall with the corn. We plant
our corn from seed. The rest of the
garden we purchase as plants. Maybe that
‘s why. And in the fall because as we
dig up the corn stalks and get rid of them (we don’t plow them back into the
garden a sin for which I hope true gardeners will forgive us) I notice how
large they have grown and how much mass they have. Then it strikes me. I’ve done nothing for these plants but put a
seed in the ground and water on the seed and soil. Well, of course I’ve spent some small amount
of time clearing weeds from their bases (not much this time last summer because
we were away quite a bit) and I once applied fertilizer (chemical, a sin for which etc….) but essentially I’ve done nothing.
Here
I am digging up stalks taller than I am.
I can grab them and shake them to remove dirt from their substantial
root systems. These are tangible material
living things that simply appeared from the ground. The ground is still there. I see no indentation or sinking around the
plants to show where the stalks and leaves and roots came from built atom by
atom and molecule by molecule higher and higher. And I marvel at God’s increase because what
little effort I have made for these plants God has returned to me a million
fold. If I had eyes, I would see this
same miracle a thousand times a day: no matter how much we contribute some
work, (of which we are capable because of the bodies we’ve been given) some
ideas (which we receive from God and which we are able to consider because of
the brains God has given us) but God gives the increase. I don’t have such eyes. My poor little brain and shriveled spirit see
only what I lack and take the rest for granted.
But sometimes as today, I stop and begin to see if only briefly and in
small measure the glories of God’s creation.
