“I don’t like to play in the dirt,” a friend recently told me. Obviously, she doesn’t share my enthusiasm for gardening. While I certainly respect her position, I’m a country girl at heart, and take my grandmother’s words seriously that, “A little dirt never hurt anyone.” Now that it’s spring, I get to do a lot of ‘playing’ and I’m quite pleased about that.

In fact, I find the feel of rich, dark soil in my hands to be rather therapeutic. There is just something incredibly wonderful in knowing that vigorous new life will soon spring forth from it, and I will have had a hand in that. What’s more, I never cease to be amazed at the miracle of life –even the life of a tiny new plant.

Whenever I see a teeny seedling that has broken through the ground, I can’t help but marvel at how it assumes a posture of praise -tiny new leaves stretched heavenward towards the light. Then, all the time and effort I previously spent preparing the soil, and tending to the seed, is forgotten in the same way a mother’s labor pains vanish at the very moment she sees her newborn chid’s face.

I can’t help but think that our Heavenly Father feels much the same way each time a soul climbs out of this world’s dirt and reaches for His light. Dear reader, our Heavenly Father does not need us to help tend His garden, yet He has given us the privilege of doing so until He gathers His harvest. God’s children all have a hand in planting the Gospel seed, and watering it, until vigorous life springs forth (I Corinthians 3:5-9).

Finally, brethren, let us not neglect to pray. If we are to see a harvest for God’s kindgom, this is the most important part of our labor. To quote Rudyard Kipling, “Adam was a gardener, and God, who made him, sees that half of all gardening is done upon the knees.”