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In the Garden ( LLM April 2000)

The garden is a peaceful place,
I adore the sun upon my face;
The gentle terrain, the rolling land,
The smell of earth clings to my hands.

With the softness and richness of the soil,
The work is energizing--not toil.
The song of the birds, the cool spring air--
Perfect conditions like these are rare.

Sometime between winter--cold and dreary
And the summer--hot, dry and weary,
I must take advantage of this glorious day
And relish the chores that beckon today.

Long ago in Gethsemane,
Another Gardener was upon His knee,
Pleading before His Father above,
“Not my will but thine be done”.

For hours and hours He cried through the night,
Weary, alone, not a soul shared His plight.
You see, His friends had forsaken Him,
      all fallen asleep;
No one to comfort Him, no one to weep.

No one to encourage Him, no one to pray
As another close friend approached to betray.
Beaten, spat upon, belittled and scorned;
The ultimate insult--a crown of thorns.

The blood He shed for us on the cross
Was all part of God’s plan, His great purpose;
To restore our relationship with Him.
To cleanse us, to purify us from our sin.

And just as Christ arose from the tomb,
So, we too, are freed from death’s horrid doom.
Free to live eternally with our Father above.
All because of Jesus, His Son, sacrificed in love.

So each Spring when you see new life emerge,
Each bud, each blossom, each blade 
    of grass surge
Forth from winter’s cold, death-like embrace,
Know that nature mimics the miracle of God’s grace.

Christ’s death and resurrection are never at odds
When the garden cries out the existence of God!



(Read Ps 65:12-13, and Song of Songs 2:11-12a for the inspiration to this poem!)


I love to garden: the above poem explains why.  Today is my birthday and I spent the morning out in the garden, picking strawberries, watering, weeding, and just poking around. I cannot think of a better place to be on my 56th birthday!  What a birthday present from God to see everything I’ve planted so far looking good and productive (although I’m a little concerned about the cukes and spinach. Oh well, spinach isn’t my fave anyway and, there’s always Kroger).

To be REALLY honest, however, I hate gardening in July and August.  It’s just too hot, sweaty, and buggy for me.  Thank goodness for a wonderful hubby who steps in and takes over!  He always does the hard part; the tilling and the hauling of bags of manure and mulch. He also built a quite elaborate rain barrel system  to catch the roof water so that we never have to use well water (unless it gets REALLY dry). Remember he’s the Doer of All Things Well.

So what does all this have to do with a beach cottage???      Nothing, but I reserve the right to talk about whatever I want, since it IS my blog!!!!

And since we haven’t been to Ocracoke yet, I don’t have much else to write about.....

Well, speaking of........ there is one thing that bothers me about our beach cottage. Since we don’t live there, I can’t have flower gardens there; not even pots of flowers because there is no one there to keep them watered!  And summer means flowers!!! There is good news though; the previous owners planted Knock Out roses out next to the front porch steps, and native Mexican Petunias grow prolifically around the property. They are beautiful, and so we do have some summer color when we arrive there!

Next blog, there will be photos of the Knock Out roses and petunias at 10 Cuttin Sage. There will be more talk of Ocracoke and our upcoming adventures there, so, my 2 followers........

Stay tuned!






Just wanted to show off my hubby’s elaborate rain barrel system in the background!






This photo of my Haricot Vert green beans was taken  a couple weeks ago. They look gorgeous now!!!!  I’m just too lazy to walk out there and photograph them!






This peony was so beautiful I had to photograph it!  







Yummy garden produce!!!!

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