I'm into gardening right now having just embarked on my first square-foot garden. I like the idea of producing something...from seed to harvest. It's exciting to be able to say, "I grew that."
This weekend, Pastors Jon and Fawn reminded us that we all are in a process of growth. Jesus told the parable of the sower and the soils to point out that growth isn't always equal. Like it or not, if you claim to follow Jesus, you are some combination of soils...in some process of growth and there are things which help our growth and things which hinder our growth too.
The main reason I'm doing "square-foot gardening" is because I'm lazy. Seriously, gardening is hard work. Square-foot gardening is ultra-efficient. Compared to the traditional single row gardening, it promises that you will get the same "100% Harvest" for "50 % of the cost, 20% of the space, 10% of the water, 5% of the seeds, and 2% of the work."
Did you catch that? 100% harvest for 2% of the work! That's amazing!
So what's my point? The longer I follow Jesus and work with people who claim to want to follow Jesus, the more I realize that we make growing in our relationship with Jesus harder for ourselves than it should be.
Here are three thoughts on what we can do to make our growth journey as efficient and productive as possible:
1. Be consistent.
Hands down this is the most important thing we control about our growth journey. So often people start out with enthusiasm, over and over again! The average church attender comes to church one out of four Sundays per month. Ponder how often they might actually read the Bible. Pastor Jon says that's like trying to water your faith with a "tea cup". How effective is that? If I only watered my garden a quarter of the time, my plants would be dried up and dead! Note that consistency isn't perfection. However, if you are consistent, you will develop a habit. The great thing about habits are that when we miss a day or two, we usually are motivated to get back at it!
2. Mind the weeds.
Weeds happen. Only a foolish gardener thinks they can avoid them. But the smart gardener keeps on top of them. Small weeds are easier to deal with than big weeds. How often in your faith walk have you let a "little weed" (translation: little compromise, little sin) go untended? Before long, that weed is out of control. Are you actually stopping to consider the "weeds" in your life? Again, note that the call isn't to have a "weed-free" life, but to pull those weeds out as soon as you detect them! (The Holy Spirit is happy to highlight the weeds in our lives for us!)
3. Get good nutrients.
In gardening, it's all about what type of nutrients your soil has. You can do all the right stuff, and if you have poor soil, stuff just won't grow. Consider what you are feeding yourself. Are you snacking on spiritual "junk food"? Yes, reading your one-minute-day Bible every day is good, it's just not very nourishing. What are you reading, watching, and listening to every day? The media fasts we participate in during our discipleship classes have really challenged me to examine what I consume on a regular basis. What messages are you surrounding yourself with?
I don't think that finding growth in our relationship with Jesus is all about working harder and spending all our time in a Christian bubble. However, some of us find ourselves frustrated by our feeble growth (we struggle with the same sins and hang ups over and over again.) Perhaps if we were more efficient, we'd find more growth and harvest, too!