It’s that time of year when the yard work is getting up to full speed. I’ve cut the grass once, and it is time to do it again. Yesterday, I removed the string head and attached a blade to my weed eater to clear out some overgrown areas of vines and other plants.  I’ve purchased more dirt and plan to sow some creeping thyme for a ground cover.

Look at me now: the teenager who once swore he would cover his yard in concrete and paint it green. Yep. That’s me. I’m that guy. My daddy can confirm it. Years ago, when moving into my first house, he showed up, didn’t help, and just stood in the yard. After a while, I went out to see what he was doing and, in his words, “I’m waiting on the concrete trucks.”

Growing up, I had a hate-hate relationship with anything related to yard work, gardening, and sweating. Especially sweating in the Mississippi heat and humidity. Over the years, one of our boys has been known to say, “I didn’t choose to be born,” or “I didn’t buy this house.” My sentiments were the same regarding yard work. Digging holes to plant bushes or trees, using a hoe to bust up weeds, or pushing a mower? A pox on your house, for I found nothing pleasurable about working in the yard or garden.

My, how things change with years and perspective. I don’t like to think of myself as old. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But who am I kidding? I recently bought a pair of New Balance running shoes to walk in. Yep, that might be the first sign…

Still, in my uber-advanced age, I find great satisfaction in tending my yard, garden, etc. That reminds me of Adam and Eve. Created by God to rule over the earth, the first human couple was given a beautiful garden in Paradise to tend and care for. We all know how badly that worked out.

As I think about that, it dawns on me that each of us has been given a garden to tend. Family, friends, jobs, I’m not going to put limits on what your garden may consist of — but wherever it is, just a little bit of tending causes the whole to flourish. Weed, prune, cut, fertilize, or cultivate; don’t neglect your garden. Good fruit and beautiful produce can still be found.

Les Ferguson Jr. grew up in Vicksburg and is a 1980 graduate of Warren Central High School. He holds a B.A. in Bible from Magnolia Bible College and an M.A. in New Testament Preaching from Johnson University. He lives and ministers in Oxford, Mississippi and is the author of “Still Wrestling—Faith Renewed through Brokenness.” He can be reached at lfergusonjr@gmail.com.