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   Every morning, as I leave my home, I am delighted by the beautiful flowers growing in my
neighborhood. Just down the road, a sign reads  "Squash/Cucumbers" as another person sells
excess vegetables. It seems everyone is cultivating something tasty or visually pleasing.
Gardening is hard work, yet many dedicate countless hours to nurturing life from the soil. This
daily sight reminds me how the Bible traces humanity's origins to a garden. In other words,
gardening is baked into our DNA.
   The ancients tell a story of how God creates humans and deliberately places them in a
garden. In this story, birds, plants, and all sorts of critters are created; and yet, only humankind
is set apart and given an explicit home and job description. “The Lord God took the man and put
him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” Genesis 2:15. There are a couple of things to
notice in this singular verse from Genesis. First, humans are designed to work in a paradise
garden. Work is not a curse, but a gift. We are designed for work, because we are created in the
God image, who works and gardens. In this way, our work is patterned after God's work.
   The second thing to notice about Genesis 2:15 is the implication that God left creation with
untapped potential for growth and beauty. There is a richness in the world that humans get to
unlock through their work. The work of a gardener is to bring order to chaos, to rearrange life in
a way that is fruitful and beautiful. Gardeners take raw materials and work them, so that the
world can thrive and flourish. In a biblical sense, humans are called to be working gardeners of
this world.
   It takes faith to bury a seed and wait for it to grow. It takes perseverance to weed out the bad
and destructive growths. It takes knowledge and experience to nurture an injured or diseased
plant. Truthfully, much of gardening is patiently waiting on progress that is unseen and
happening just under the surface. In this way, gardening is a perfect metaphor for a life working
with God. Our biblical call to be working gardeners of this world is a call to participate in the
work that echoes God’s own creative work.
   I think the teaching here goes beyond backyard plots and raised garden beds. I believe the
call within each of us is to cultivate goodness and order in the garden where God has placed us.
Whether you are parenting, teaching, cooking, accounting, engineering, managing a team, or
waiting tables, each of us is given some corner of creation to tend and bring to good order. We
are invited to pay attention, nurture, and help life flourish.
   When I drive past those flower beds and vegetable stands each morning, they are a reminder
of the sacred work that God calls us to each day. For me, gardens have become sacred
reminders of God working with each of us to pull forward the world's hidden potential and
untapped beauty. I pray that you can find dignity, purpose, and goodness in your corner of
creation, and with God’s help, work it faithfully. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand
firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you
know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain”-1 Corinthians 15:58