Gardening 101

A garden won't produce fruit, vegetables or herbs if you don't tend to its needs. If you don't prune, water and feed your garden you won't have much to show for it.
Case in point: my garden. Or shall I say, my wanna-be garden.
My Mom had the great idea of starting a garden in the backyard of my new house. The yard is perfect for an at-home garden. It is sunny, flat and fenced in, protecting it from wandering deer who might be in search of a snack. This yard is just begging to be dug up. It practically came with a sign saying, "Plant seeds here!" My Mom was all in.
I've never been one to enjoy digging in dirt, but I too could share in the dream of growing my own herbs and carrots. I'm a vegetable lover so I could picture the sprouting of baby zucchini and even beets. The thought was exciting - my own produce! I could pick my spinach leaves and then come in and make dinner. This sounded right up my alley.
There was only one problem, I don't like to garden. I don't enjoy the process. I don't find digging holes and laying mulch relaxing. For some people it is therapeutic. For me it is work. Needless to say, my little dream of picking my own produce went out the window when I realized I wasn't going to put the effort in to ever have produce worth picking. The idea was short lived. My Mom did the work of digging the holes and planting the seeds. Unlike me, she enjoys that kind of activity. But I didn't stick with it long enough to see results. I didn't do the necessary tending, weeding, feeding and watering. I slacked off. My store bought produce became the proof.
In our bodies we can exhibit the same tendencies. We can have dreams of being healthy and whole, yet if we don't put in the work in and tend to our garden, then we won't have anything but flab and sickness to show for it.
God can give us the soil. He can give us the perfect conditions to have a plentiful harvest. But we must do the digging. If we don't plant the seeds and care for them then even the greatest of land won't produce a single lettuce leaf.
You have been given a body created for health and wholeness. In your physical being is everything needed to live abundantly. Still, you must take care of this gift.
1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Your body is the most precious of gardens, capable of producing the most glorious of fruit. You don't need to search for the perfect soil. You already have it. You don't need to scope out a plot of land with the perfect ratio of clouds and sun, hot and cold. Your already have the right conditions.
All you need is to tend to your temple, care for your garden. It is not complicated but it does take time and effort. The simple acts of watering and feeding aren't always the most exciting and sometimes they might feel like work, but they are needed if we want to have a body and life that are healthy and whole. God has called us to be intentional with our bodies in order that we might be good stewards of this precious gift he has bestowed on each of us.
Don't make the same mistake I made with my backyard garden. I didn't care for it and as a result my produce yield was practically nonexistent. My produce ended with a grand total of two: one zucchini and one miniscule carrot, approximately the size of my pinkie finger. I pray that in your life you will tend to your body with such diligence and care that you will yield a produce of great abundance, larger than your arms could possibly carry. You have the potential, the conditions are just right. All you need is to do a little gardening.