“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15
It is interesting how many assume when God created Adam and Eve, there was no work in the garden of Eden. That is crazy talk! There was plenty of work and care they needed to do. God didn’t put man and woman in a garden for a vacation. I’ve never come across a garden that didn’t need any maintenance. You weed a garden bed, and the next day what do you wake up and see, more weeds.
This past month we’ve been putting in some final touches to our front KIEC garden alongside the playground. Its been a project we’ve been working on for the past eight months. Why take so long and put so much effort into such a small space? We created this area to be welcoming for parents of the KIEC children. After school, parents can enjoy our facilities, sit under the shade of some mango and tamarind trees and have a safe place for their children to play. KIEC isn’t just here to provide an education to children. We want to impact families in a way that blesses them. Sure, it’s not perfect (just like all of us), and we still have some parts to fix and clean up, but it is peaceful, and we’re thankful for this space.
Our garden area in March.
Foundation wall being laid.
Back filling the area after finishing the foundation wall. (April)
These are two outside bathrooms we built. We noticed parents waiting for their children, sometimes feel uncomfortable coming into the school to use the bathroom. So we made these for them. Also, it is easier for us to supervise children who want to use the playground and go to the bathroom.
We also fixed the walls on our well as they were crumbling and we wanted to ensure the students’ safety.
It should be mandatory for every house to have at least one crape myrtle.
The whole family chipped in.
Ewing loves to swing in this hammock and read books with his puppy Goldie next to him.
We are happy with the results. We have planted wintercreeper, boatlilly, snake plant, spider plants, white garland lilies, heart of jesus (differernt variations), golden shrimp plants, stromanthe and indian shot.
You can quickly build a garden with some effort, although it sure doesn’t feel like that when you are doing it. But after building a garden, the real work begins. If we don’t take the time to nurture it, all our work can quickly wilt or be overtaken by weeds. Gardens need water, fertilizer, the right sun conditions, and lots of hard work and love.
So what does this mean spiritually for us? In our own spiritual lives, it takes daily work for our spiritual lives to grow. To flourish, we need to take time to pray, read scripture, and meditate on our Lord in our lives and the lives of others. Yes, it can seem tedious at times, but we need it. Our spiritual lives thirst for this type of care, and if we don’t give it, we are only harming ourselves.
After Adam and Eve sinned, the scripture says:
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8,9
The same question God called out to Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” is the same call many of us hear too. I’m sure we all need to take time to reflect and answer that question.
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