This year my vegetable garden is empty. An unfortunate three-fold combination of time spent in full-time care-giving, arthritis in one knee, and a very persistent gopher or ground squirrel helped me determine to cut my losses this year, and take a year off. So no vegetable garden for me this year.
Now I look at the empty space outside my window, and am surprised that my first thought is not, "Phew! Sure am glad not to bother with that!" Instead, I look at the emptiness and find it a little dismal. I remember the thrill of the first little seedlings poking through, and watching day-by-day as produce becomes. And I rather miss it, despite the bugs and droughts, and the hard physical work of weeding and processing.
But there are two ways of looking at an empty garden. One is simply empty and unproductive. The other is that it is laying fallow. When a farmer allows a field to lay fallow, he is giving the land a break-- leaves it unturned to conserve moisture, unplanted to interrupt the insect cycle by not giving them any hosts plants, and allows it to soak in sun and rain and replenish. Perhaps my garden is not empty, but laying fallow.
Sometimes our lives feel empty, too. Circumstances cause us to be isolated, or interrupt the merry march of daily activity for an extended period of time (maybe for the duration of a virus or the days of an elderly loved one's life). It feels empty and dismal at times. But, Gentle Reader, I think this is laying fallow. Good things are being reinvigorated under the surface, and the medium will be ready to bring forth blossom and fruit in due season. Scripture tells us that for every thing there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. There is a time to lay fallow, and a time to produce. And always, we strive to humble ourselves under the providential hand of a good God who knows the difference better than we do.
And speaking of laying fallow, this blog is often quiet these days. If anyone is still here on the rare occasions I write, thank you! Writing always helps me look more carefully and process my journey better. So thank you if you peek in on my journey.
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