How does your garden grow?

So, this year, we built a greenhouse over the planting beds. As of mid-April we are already harvesting our first crop of radishes and enjoying five varieties of lettuce!

Our greenhouse has a rain collection system, which helps us conserve precious water and irrigate only those beds that need moisture. As a result, our bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, beets and cabbages are all thriving, and promise a bountiful harvest. Yes, at first a few slugs nibbled on the pepper seedlings, but they drank themselves into oblivion after we put out a few saucers of beer for them. Although our neighborhood has suffered two frosts since we planted, the vegetation inside the protection of our greenhouse is thriving safely, shielded from predators and the elements.

We can learn a spiritual lesson from the greenhouse. Think of yourself and your family as plants in a garden. On your own, without protection, you can fall victim to all sorts of false doctrine. You can easily be devoured by ravenous "wolves in sheep's clothing," and you can find yourself paralyzed by fear of the future.

But God has provided a "greenhouse" to help shelter you and your family from the spiritual frosts, droughts and floods of life. Just as almanacs and gardening books can help us tend our physical gardens, there is a book that tells us how to grow spiritually. That book shows us not only how to tend to our physical lives, but also how to avoid many of the hazards that can damage or even destroy us spiritually. That book – the Bible – was authored by the One who, as a master gardener, created us and wants us to thrive.

For most of human history, people have tried to tend their own religious "gardens" while ignoring the Bible's instructions on how to grow. "But He [Jesus speaking of false leaders] answered and said: 'Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch'" (Matthew 15:13-14).

How will God nourish and strengthen our character? "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39).

We find that \living water\ in God's word! Describing the Church He would build, Christ promised, "that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:26-27).

God has provided a protective "greenhouse" where we, as His tender plants, can find safety from the dangers around us. We need not fend for ourselves, unprotected, in the spiritual wilderness of Satan's world. "'When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your [spiritual] nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,' says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:8).

If you are looking for the "greenhouse" in which God will nourish your spiritual growth, please read our informative booklet, Where Is God's True Church Today?