Once upon a time there was a pre-school teacher named Charlotte. Charlotte taught three-year old children at the St. John’s Child Development Center. And because it was a
church-based pre-school (you got the part about St. John’s? He is a man mentioned in the Bible) Charlotte and the other teachers there had freedom to teach the children ALL of God’s truth in the world, and not just limited little bits of it. And they could (and did!) teach stories about God and God’s people that are found in the Bible.
One of the things Charlotte noticed about so many Bible stories was that God’s people were interested in growing things. The first Israelites came into the promised land, and many of them grew fields of grain, grapes, nuts, and other things. Later on when God’s Son came into the world He taught about growing things. He would talk about the work of farmers and then apply His own eternal lessons to those stories. One of his stories about growing things is often called “The Parable of the Sower”. In that story there was one man who went out to plant his seeds. But the seeds (which were all the same) fell on different kinds of ground or soil. So the way that each grain stalk grew was different because of that different soil. Only in one case was a handful of seed able to be much good: that was the seed that fell on good ground (which is probably what that farmer intended anyway).
Well, the days went by and it got to be spring-time in the town where Charlotte and her husband, Bill, lived, and people who had gardens began to plant things. Since Charlotte lived in an apartment with limited space, she planted things too – but in small flower pots. Then it occurred to
her that her boys and girls might enjoy planting a garden somewhere around the church building. She hoped that maybe it could be somewhere fairly close so that the boys and girls could go and check on it several times a week, and weed it and water it; and then, later on, if all went well, even harvest from it.
After the children went home one day Charlotte went to the pastor of the church, a wise man named Brother James. She explained to him the class project she hoped to try, and then asked, “Could we please just have a small piece of ground for the boys and girls. They could plant their seeds in that one spot and watch them grow.
They could learn how to care for a garden right here on our church campus.” Brother James thought this over, and a gleam came into his eyes. “They could use one of the squares over in God’s Garden!” he said.
“God’s Garden?” asked Charlotte in surprise. “You mean God Himself has a g-garden right here at St. John’s?” Brother James laughed. “Well, we have an old court yard area in the middle of our buildings. It used to have trees there, but the trees attracted too many pigeons, and the pigeons really messed up the place. So we cut down the trees. Now, there are several flower beds and planter boxes in that courtyard. Our church ladies and the cub scouts have planted some flowers around the edges of it.
But I think there are one or two planters that haven’t been used yet.” Pastor James pointed out the window of his office. “There it is – you can see it all from here.”
Charlotte bent down to look out the window. “You can go out there and have a close-up look right now if you want. Those two brick boxes over toward the music room are unoccupied now, I think.”
Charlotte went outside, excited at the prospect of seeing her first garden plot for the children. “In God’s Garden!” she said to herself with a giggle. “Well, it really is God’s garden. After all He owns everything!” She found a square box raised up about a foot off the ground and enclosed by a brick wall. About four feet across, it already had some dirt in it, but there was room for more as well. “This is perfect,” she said to herself. “Thank you, Lord! I can’t wait to show the children.”
The next day she did. During the class project time she and Molly, her assistant, led the children over to the new garden spot. The children were good to remain in a straight line, and they didn’t poke at each other on the way. Charlotte led the class through a glass door and out onto the courtyard patio area. She led them by the big stone sign that said, “God’s Garden. A Project of the Lord and the Church Women.” On another sign written on a round stone, she read to the children this message: in the Garden of God there are always New Beginnings." Charlotte smiled at the sign. "And this is a brand new beginning for us, Boys and Girls. It's a gift from God."
Then she led them over to the special garden square that would be theirs. “Here is where we will plant the seed that Jesus has given to us, and if we do our part, He will make our garden grow and make many good things.” The boys and girls smiled and nodded their heads. This was God’s Garden – but now also theirs.
The next day Charlotte led her three-year olds out to the courtyard while pulling a small wagon. The wagon was one of the toys at the pre-school, but she was borrowing it to carry a sack of fertilizer and some potting soil. Charlotte had picked some up at the garden store after work one day. She dumped some out, and had the boys and girls spread the potting soil around with their mall toy rakes. Next she brought out their seeds. They had seeds for cucumbers, watermelons, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, parsely, and lettuce. “We’ll plant them in this square, but separate them from each other. Then we’ll mark them with a little sign so we know which one each plant is.” That sounded like a good idea to the boys and girls. One little boy named Rowan asked, “Can I plant a seed?”
Charlotte smiled. “Of course you can, Rowan! Everybody can plant something.” And everybody did.
In the days that followed Charlotte and Molly brought their class out to the garden plot three
times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They would all take turns watering the garden. The first time they did this, some of the boys and girls asked to be sprayed by the hose. Charlotte said, “Sure, boys and girls. But first we must work, and then we can play.” Then she would hold up the hose and “make it rain” over the children. Charlotte called this “watering the children.” The kids loved it, of course.
Days passed and God, His sun, and His water all did their work. Soon there were green, leafy plants of all kinds lifting up out of the gray, sandy soil. “Look, Boys and Girls,” said Molly. “Our plants are growing tall. Isn’t it a good thing that we put the little signs up in the dirt?”
The children didn’t know how to read yet, but they could look at the little pictures of the plants and hear their teachers sound out the name of the plant that was there: “tomato,” said Charlotte. Indeed these vines were starting to get tall enough to climb up the inside of the wire circle that had been placed there to support each young plant. Some of the other plants were growing so fast – like the cucumbers – that their leaves were spilling over the edge of the brick wall almost to touch
the ground below. They were growing up close together, but now it was at least easier to identify which plant was which, because their leaves were all so different. Some of the boys and girls had learned the names of the different plants.
Other people in the church began to learn about the special gardening project of the three- and four-year old class. Many began to walk by and look at God’s Garden through the glass windows which were along one whole side of fellowship hall. Some of the ladies of the church who
tended the other parts of the garden were interested too. A couple of them came over to water the “children’s square” on the days when the boys and girls weren’t there. Some of these were experienced gardeners, and they also gave the children advice on how best to care for the young plants.
Then the plants began to produce pretty little flowers, some yellow and some white. By then it was the month of May, and Charlotte told all the children: “the flowers come and then the fruit of each plant. We’ll be able to see some tiny vegetables soon.” And a few days later they did! Some of the flowers blossomed and stayed, and some withered and fell away, but underneath each one a little bulb or bulge in the stem appeared. “There, Boys and Girls: there is the beginning of a tiny squash gourd!” Later she would tell them, “and there, Boys and Girls, is the beginning of a tiny water melon.” Likewise the tomato vines were producing tiny green round balls appearing under some leafy branches. “Those will turn red later on. They are tomatoes!” said Molly. The boys and girls continued to help in watering the plants. They were all learning so much. |
| Since it was a church pre-school, the teachers could teach all the truth from God's Word. |
One of the things Charlotte noticed about so many Bible stories was that God’s people were interested in growing things. The first Israelites came into the promised land, and many of them grew fields of grain, grapes, nuts, and other things. Later on when God’s Son came into the world He taught about growing things. He would talk about the work of farmers and then apply His own eternal lessons to those stories. One of his stories about growing things is often called “The Parable of the Sower”. In that story there was one man who went out to plant his seeds. But the seeds (which were all the same) fell on different kinds of ground or soil. So the way that each grain stalk grew was different because of that different soil. Only in one case was a handful of seed able to be much good: that was the seed that fell on good ground (which is probably what that farmer intended anyway).
Well, the days went by and it got to be spring-time in the town where Charlotte and her husband, Bill, lived, and people who had gardens began to plant things. Since Charlotte lived in an apartment with limited space, she planted things too – but in small flower pots. Then it occurred to
 |
| Charlotte grew her own garden in flower pots! |
After the children went home one day Charlotte went to the pastor of the church, a wise man named Brother James. She explained to him the class project she hoped to try, and then asked, “Could we please just have a small piece of ground for the boys and girls. They could plant their seeds in that one spot and watch them grow.
They could learn how to care for a garden right here on our church campus.” Brother James thought this over, and a gleam came into his eyes. “They could use one of the squares over in God’s Garden!” he said.
“God’s Garden?” asked Charlotte in surprise. “You mean God Himself has a g-garden right here at St. John’s?” Brother James laughed. “Well, we have an old court yard area in the middle of our buildings. It used to have trees there, but the trees attracted too many pigeons, and the pigeons really messed up the place. So we cut down the trees. Now, there are several flower beds and planter boxes in that courtyard. Our church ladies and the cub scouts have planted some flowers around the edges of it.
 |
| There were these brick garden squares out in the church courtyard. |
Charlotte bent down to look out the window. “You can go out there and have a close-up look right now if you want. Those two brick boxes over toward the music room are unoccupied now, I think.”
Charlotte went outside, excited at the prospect of seeing her first garden plot for the children. “In God’s Garden!” she said to herself with a giggle. “Well, it really is God’s garden. After all He owns everything!” She found a square box raised up about a foot off the ground and enclosed by a brick wall. About four feet across, it already had some dirt in it, but there was room for more as well. “This is perfect,” she said to herself. “Thank you, Lord! I can’t wait to show the children.”
The next day she did. During the class project time she and Molly, her assistant, led the children over to the new garden spot. The children were good to remain in a straight line, and they didn’t poke at each other on the way. Charlotte led the class through a glass door and out onto the courtyard patio area. She led them by the big stone sign that said, “God’s Garden. A Project of the Lord and the Church Women.” On another sign written on a round stone, she read to the children this message: in the Garden of God there are always New Beginnings." Charlotte smiled at the sign. "And this is a brand new beginning for us, Boys and Girls. It's a gift from God."
 |
| They planted several different kinds of vegetables in their garden square |
The next day Charlotte led her three-year olds out to the courtyard while pulling a small wagon. The wagon was one of the toys at the pre-school, but she was borrowing it to carry a sack of fertilizer and some potting soil. Charlotte had picked some up at the garden store after work one day. She dumped some out, and had the boys and girls spread the potting soil around with their mall toy rakes. Next she brought out their seeds. They had seeds for cucumbers, watermelons, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, parsely, and lettuce. “We’ll plant them in this square, but separate them from each other. Then we’ll mark them with a little sign so we know which one each plant is.” That sounded like a good idea to the boys and girls. One little boy named Rowan asked, “Can I plant a seed?”
Charlotte smiled. “Of course you can, Rowan! Everybody can plant something.” And everybody did.
In the days that followed Charlotte and Molly brought their class out to the garden plot three
 |
| The children took turns watering their garden. |
Days passed and God, His sun, and His water all did their work. Soon there were green, leafy plants of all kinds lifting up out of the gray, sandy soil. “Look, Boys and Girls,” said Molly. “Our plants are growing tall. Isn’t it a good thing that we put the little signs up in the dirt?”
The children didn’t know how to read yet, but they could look at the little pictures of the plants and hear their teachers sound out the name of the plant that was there: “tomato,” said Charlotte. Indeed these vines were starting to get tall enough to climb up the inside of the wire circle that had been placed there to support each young plant. Some of the other plants were growing so fast – like the cucumbers – that their leaves were spilling over the edge of the brick wall almost to touch
the ground below. They were growing up close together, but now it was at least easier to identify which plant was which, because their leaves were all so different. Some of the boys and girls had learned the names of the different plants.
Other people in the church began to learn about the special gardening project of the three- and four-year old class. Many began to walk by and look at God’s Garden through the glass windows which were along one whole side of fellowship hall. Some of the ladies of the church who
 |
| She would spray the plants . . . and also the children! |
Finally a day came in mid-June when one of the small bulbs on a limb had become larger
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| The yellow squash gourds grew up first. They looked good! |
and turned yellow. Charlotte had told her husband the evening before. Bill thought this was such an important moment in the life of the children, that he wanted to be there to witness it too.
“I don’t know why, but I really want to see this myself,” he said. “I guess because in a small way it is a miracle from God. God did this! The boys and girls are getting to see something that God has done over time. It is a miracle!”
The next day Bill was there with the children in God’s Garden. Charlotte said, “There is one of our squash gourds, Children!,” said Charlotte. “And it’s time to pull it off the limb. This is called the harvest!”
“All gardening and farming is a chance to watch God work, I guess,” answered Charlotte.
“I never thought of it that way,” nodded Molly.
“Make sure you let your children know this,” said Bill. “They have had a chance to see God do a miracle right in their back yard, so to speak.”
And as Spring came to an end and Summer continued the boys and girls had many exciting opportunities to check on their garden, keep the weeds out, and the bugs off; and to harvest tomatoes, water melons, parsley, lettuce, zucchini, and of course more big yellow squash gourds. Some of the children took some vegetables home to their parents that wanted them. Others let the church donate them either to other church members on Sunday morning or to a local soup kitchen which the church supported.
Bill continued to think about the miracle he had seen God perform in their midst. And he
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| The graden project brought many in the church together! |
And it was, my young friend. It was.
LBC
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Hey, thanks for reading. Enjoy AND USE God's world to the full (otherwise you'll be disobeying Him!) Seriously. I'm serious, Mon!! Get your big shovel, and start digging in the ground . . . find oil, gas, coal, burn it, use it; refine it, and travel and function by it! It's God's will, AND we can now do it cleanly! It is time to obey God's orders from Genesis 1!