Are any of you a green thumb? I admire those of you whose flowers or vegetables flourish under your care. I am a brown thumb. Plants come to my house and say, “Oh no! We’re going to die!”
Despite my horrible track record, I decided to experiment with a raised garden. My first year, I planted daisies, zinnias, tomatoes and onions. I watered and fertilized them. The daisies all died, and I got one zinnia. As I cared for the garden, I was amazed at how much the plants reminded me of different people to whom we minister. There were women in whom I’d invested much time and effort, but they were still spiritually as dead as the daisies. The tomatoes reminded me of a teenager in our church. We’d met her as a little girl, and we got to tell her the Gospel for the first time, just like planting the tomato seeds. We’d seen her get saved, baptized and grow spiritually, just like that tomato plant had sprouted and grown. One day I was pulling weeds from around the tomatoes while I prayed for the teenager not to be choked by the weedy temptations around her.