One bite of a simple straw- berry grown in his garden reminded Scott Seeke that God will provide.
could do. I couldn’t make the dollars stretch any further and I couldn’t make a seed grow. My family was hanging on by a thread and I could only watch and wait. It was maddening.
Maybe we would make it It was such a joyful surprise to see that first seedling. It was so tiny, so small, so magnificent. I couldn’t believe it. Over the next several days, all
the seeds sprouted. Tey were so small and frail that I wondered how they would ever survive outside. Aſter transplanting them, I watered the seedlings and they all fell over. Maybe I had killed them, but they sprang back up. I thought, “Tis might work aſter all. Maybe, just maybe, we would make it.” Over the next several weeks the
seedlings grew faster and faster. I watched them turn into little plants, and then big plants, all right outside my window, all without me doing a thing. As they grew, I gained a sense of peace. It was impossible to worry about our future when food was growing right outside without me so much as liſting a finger. I kept waiting for that little
lettuce plant to die, but it didn’t. Instead it got taller—and wider— and the leaves grew thicker and darker. It shouldn’t have sprouted, and once it did it shouldn’t have grown. But it did. Tat lettuce was a miracle growing right before my eyes. Te whole garden was. I’ll never forget that first salad. I
treated that lettuce as carefully as I treat the elements during commu- nion: I snipped it, washed it and set it on our plates, still not believing that it was real. Taking my first bite, I wondered if this might be another of life’s cruel tricks, like our air con- ditioner dying at exactly the wrong
It wasn’t just the
flavor. I could taste and see that God
would take care of us.
time. It wasn’t. Te lettuce tasted exactly like lettuce, but better—and it wasn’t just the flavor. I could taste and see that God would take care of us. Every year since then I’ve planted
a garden. I no longer do it for the money it saves. It’s a spiritual disci- pline. Having a garden reminds me that it is God, not me, who provides for my family. When I forget, all I have to do is go outside, pick some- thing and eat it. I can taste and see that God will provide.
Author bio: Seeke is pastor of Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in Marietta, Ga.
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