And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east.
Genesis 2:8
Have you ever planted a garden? Maybe your idea of gardening is one indoor plant. An entire vegetable garden or one small plant, it takes nurturing to keep it alive, healthy, and producing to its fullest. Just what does that nurturing look like? For the plants, it means sunshine, water, and pulling weeds that encroach. Often those tasks need to be attended to daily.
What about the nurturing of each other? Aren’t we as important as the plants?
How often do we go about our own lives without a thought to what we can do to nurture another? Perhaps it is as simple as a smile and good morning to someone you hardly know or as involved as listening when a friend is having a difficult journey and needs a sympathetic ear. It could be daily encouragement to someone who is struggling with life questions or an occasional note to let someone know you are thinking about them.
Let the cross in the picture be a reminder that God is our steady rock and is always with us, no matter the circumstance. Let each of us strive to be an earthly steady rock for someone else. Who knows, we may be nurturing our own soul when we seek to be nurturing of someone else.
Teresa Cross