Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Tending the Garden

One winter we spent some time in a small apartment on the beach. The lady who was overseeing the place lived down below our balcony. One morning I watched her paddle around in sandals and sweats, moving from one plant to another, trimming, watering, weeding. She had a cactus, two small trees, an assortment of geraniums, succulents, and other plants in pots scattered around the lot. The lot itself was an asphalt parking lot for tenants but she had created a "garden" with those pots, adding beauty to what was bleak, growing things green and colorful.

It made me think, that after all these generations from the beginning (from Eden), man still has a message inside to "tend the garden". We love to plant, water, watch things grow, whether it be vegetables for sustenance or flowers for beauty. In my case when I visit the garden early in the morning to water a single plant I end up there for hours, wandering from one plant to another, pulling tiny weeds, trimming dead leaves, moving plants from one place to another because they are in the wrong place. "Tending" is built into us from the beginning. In spite of living in this broken world that is marred by sin, we still "tend".

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