Today, Lacey is sharing how gardening grows us. I know you will love her wisdom as she weaves together motherhood and gardening. 

As a gardener and mother, I have been amazed at how gardening grows us. Over and over the thing we all hear about is the hustle and bustle of life. In motherhood you repeatedly are told “the days are long, but the years are short.” Over and over we hear the reminders of “18 summers.” Since I know this to all be true, I know we need to be intentional about family time.  

Personally, I don’t want to be in the rat race of life. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good vacation, but how relaxing are summer vacations with small children? It’s okay, you don’t have to attempt to answer, we all know the truth. Instead of filling our time with multiple, stressful trips and activities, we decided to be selective about commitments.

I know that not everyone has the space or time to have a garden the size of ours.  However, a few potted plants is a learning opportunity and a family activity that can be so fun. Most of our plants were started in a small junk storage area from seed.  We explain the process and let the kids drop seeds into soil.

A great way to involve the kids is to use a small spray bottle to water seedlings.  Small kids can do this with help. This year our boys were just under 3 years old and 18 months when we started garden prep. Once the seedlings are planted, our kids learn about pollination, waiting, ripening, and picking. There are obviously plants that are easier to grow with kids and I’ve shared about that before along with some tips on gardening with kids, which the best advice is to have low expectations of success and just plan to enjoy the time.  

How Gardening Grows Us- Why is this bettering our family?

First, it’s an easy and cheap activity that takes a while.

This isn’t an activity that you’re going to do for 20 minutes and everyone moves on while mom cleans up.

Second, it’s a way to have some team effort and growing together.

Kids will break plants and pick green tomatoes, but it’s all about us working together.

Lastly, this is the easiest and most tangible way that we can teach our kids about God.

God creates to share His glory and what better way for us to acknowledge that than to see His creation happen right before our eyes. We get to talk about how creation works together to form flowers and fruit. As we look at what we are growing, we can talk about the colors, shapes, and counting. One of my favorite things we talk about is what a wonderful gift creation is and how we’re supposed to care for it well.  In these simple ways gardening grows us. 

[click_to_tweet tweet=”God creates to share His glory and what better way for us to acknowledge that than to see His creation happen right before our eyes. @lacerab @kerilynnsnyder” quote=”God creates to share His glory and what better way for us to acknowledge that than to see His creation happen right before our eyes.”]

In the time we’ve been gardening (this is our third year in this house), I’ve mostly thought about what we were growing. But this year it’s been more about what God is growing.

God has grown patience and joy with us gardening.

A morning and evening routine has been cultivated as gardening grows us. Even the after bedtime walk with my husband is a simple way that gardening grows us.  That wasn’t what I thought we were getting when we started gardening. I was looking for some food to feed these always hungry kids. But God gifted us with much more. Yes, we have 18 summers with our kids. That’s going to be 18 gardens of us growing. Not us growing food, but God growing us. Growing closer together; closer to creation; closer to God.  When I think of this, I know I am thankful for how gardening grows us. 

Lacey is an encourager through words and photographs. She resides in Louisiana with her high school sweetheart husband and two sons as they turn their 1960’s brick ranch into a farmhouse one DIY project at a time, complete with a garden and way too many chickens. You can find her on Instagram at @LaceRab & @TheRabFarm and at her website.