My Fingers are Itching: The Renewal is Coming!

No worries….I do not have any strange health concerns and haven’t had a run-in with poison ivy. My fingers are fine medically, but they are filled with anticipation to start digging in the dirt! 

I love to garden! Yes, it is rewarding to see the garden grow, the beauty of the plants, and of course eating and cooking with the beautiful produce.

However, the greatest reason I find to plan, design, and sow my garden each year is it renews my soul. Ecclesiastes 3:1 states “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” and continues on from there that there is a time for many things we experience here on earth. 

Connecting with nature on any level makes us happy. Digging in the dirt grounds you with the earth. Studies find that mere minutes spent outside each day has immense amounts of health benefits. Whohoo! This is one of the reasons I garden but there is more.

Our mission at Rhubarb & Rubbish is to cultivate an intentional life. That takes work, commitment, and a plan to be successful. The blessing is in the end having done the investment you will be greatly rewarded and blessed.

Gardening is just like being intentional. It is a hands-on experience that simulates intention. You must plan, design, cultivate, plant, tender, care, water, nurture, weed, and harvest your garden. 

Living an intentional life is only gained by doing the same. To be intentional, we must

• Plan and design what our intentions will be (core values)
• Be tender and care for ourselves (self-care, hobbies, time for ourselves)
• Rejuvenate and weed when necessary (saying no and removing the rubbish)
• Harvest our successes (basking when we are doing our core values)

Isaiah 58:11 reads “And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong: and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Life is crazy busy and at times we are scorched, but the Lord will guide us, water our souls, and make us strong again.

Are you a gardener or is that the last thing you want to do on earth? Either way, as we go through the motions of our days to be more intentional, remember our lives are like a garden that takes nurturing. In the end we will be renewed and blessed.

Contributed by Jessica Clemens