9 Months of Walking By the Garden

Every day we pass a community garden area.  When we arrived it wasn’t the prettiest area of land with what looked like weeds and old, dried vines.  But in time there was tilling and it looked fresh and ready.  Next the planting and caring for the sprouts of life.  We saw many people meticulously tending to their little plot.  This is not a hobby in our village; this is food, life sustaining work.  Then row by row things started growing.  It was so pretty and made me smile when I walked by.  Those crops were harvested and corn was planted.  Then it grew so big we really couldn’t see a field anymore.  Then harvest time again.  The corn was cut down.  (What they do with the corn is sort of unimaginable to my western mind.  They somehow get the kernels off the husks and then lay the corn on the roadway.  Right there on the road where people and animals walk everyday.  Where cars and carts and bikes ride.  They lay it right out there to dry then shovel it up and put it in bags to be used for cooking.)  And I anticipated this to be the end of the season for that plot of ground.  But nope, there was yet another crop planted.  This time the seeds had been started at home and planted in the tilled earth.  And it’s beautiful again.  It’s starting to get a little chilly out, but the planters know the seasons and the crops that grow the best.

Not our actual village as pictures are not allowed.

Are you tracking with me?  Do you see the correlation of this journey called life that we are on?  What stage are you in?  Because I want to encourage you, if you’re still here, there’s still a crop in your life that will come.  If you are being tilled, it is in anticipation of a planting, a deposit of life.  Perhaps you are very aware that you are being cared for by the One who holds your life in His hands.  He is meticulously pulling up weeds around you so you are free to grow.  This is life sustaining work.  Let go of your weeds, they are preventing full life!  If you are growing and flourishing; ENJOY IT!  Smile, encourage others, bring beauty to everything around you.  Maybe your harvest is so full you are overwhelmed.  Stay with it.  This is what you have been working for, what you have been prepared for.  Keep going.  If you are concerned that your time of usefulness is over – there is are always more dreams for you; another season of harvest.  Germinate those seeds and be ready because you will be planted again.  He knows the season, He knows the crop, He knows the whole garden.  Trust the Master Gardener.

We have been “here” for 9 months now.  We will tell you over and over again how much we love living here.  We own no car here, we own no home here, we came with the clothes in our suitcases and dreams.   And those dreams have not disappointed.

Our life is so simple.  All at once we live a life here where not much changes and yet everything changes in a heartbeat.  We have seen 15 new children come to live at the foster home, seen 16 children get adopted and pr*yed through 11 surgeries, including some rather major heart surgeries.  We ourselves have adopted a little boy and pr*yed him through minor surgery.  And all the while our cry has been to keep our hearts open to love freely and fully.

But it’s not time to go yet and we are so grateful for that fact!  Our work is not yet done “here.”  There will be more children coming in the next 3 months.  There will most likely be more surgeries.  There are new projects being started in other countries that we get to be a part of.  The most exciting is one that is designed to help prevent abandoning children in another closed country.  There are more formula runs to go on.  There are many more lessons to be planned and even more unplanned “lessons” for us to learn and to teach.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.  It’s not over yet.  So stay tuned.  So much can happen in 3 months and we anticipate great things!