Take a look outside—the natural world is coming to life this season. Spring means outdoor work. Sometimes its difficult to know where to start on your list. You’ll find some helpful tips below, as well as a way to honor God’s land during this season of renewal.
Flowers and trees show their truest, most brilliant, beautiful colors… and the grass is green on both sides of the fence. The sounds of chirping birds, lawnmowers, and children at play are beginning to fill the air again.
The arrival of spring also triggers reminders of seasonal work that needs to be done. You might be thinking about landscaping projects for your house, the grass that needs cutting, the weeds that need pulling, flowers to plant, areas to water, sprays to deter bugs, cages to deter rabbits…
Taking care of a garden is hard work!
Most neighbors will notice a lovely garden and what it says about you, the gardener. You, the hard worker. You, a cultivator of life and beauty.
Gardening isn’t something you do just to keep up with the Joneses. Maybe you’re planting flowers in memory of a loved one. Maybe you’re growing herbs or vegetables for your signature dish. Maybe it’s just that special place in your home where you can sit and be at peace. In any case, a garden is meaningful to us, and it is to God.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”
—Genesis 2:15
God created mankind in His image so that we, too, may create and look after the world He made for us. But work that is easy for God is difficult for us, and whether we’ve been gardening for years or are planning to try it for the first time, the to-do list is always long and often overwhelming.
Tips For Tackling Spring Tasks…
- Put first things first: It’s always important to prioritize. The things that must get done, must get done. Some of them have approaching deadlines, for example, cutting the grass before it gets too long, and others are merely what matters most to you, like planting roses before petunias.
- Start small: If you are finding it hard to get started, it might help to do something fast and simple in order to take something off your list and give yourself confidence boost in your accomplishment. Sometimes that little boost is all you need to get the ball rolling.
- Reward yourself: Plan something enjoyable after you’ve accomplished each task. Even if it’s something as simple as indulging yourself in a glass of lemonade after mowing the lawn… the reward will motivate you to accomplish even more.
These strategies can apply to anything in life, but when it comes to gardening and spring cleaning in particular, there is a bonus opportunity available right now.
Put Sponsoring an Olive Tree at the Top of Your List!
Why choose one of those strategies when you can accomplish all three in a single step?
- You are putting God and the good of others before yourself.
- It takes very little time and effort to sponsor a tree (just click here).
- You will be rewarded as you help create a legacy.
My Olive Tree is cultivating a garden for God in the Negev Desert in Israel. We are planting olive trees and grapevines as a fulfillment of the biblical prophecies that foretold of the restoration of the Promised Land. The Bible tells us that God plans are to restore the desert and the house of Israel. He has promised to return the Jewish people to their homeland, and with the help of Gentiles, to restore it.
“…I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and all the Gentiles who are called by My name…”
—Amos 9:11
Your sponsorship will help the restoration process by covering the cost of planting and watering an olive tree, which can have a great impact on physically transforming the land. After all, the soil in the desert is not nearly as rich in nutrients as the soil in your garden.
In the desert, there are few life forms to help fertilize the soil, whereas most gardens contain entire ecosystems full of worms, insects, and bacteria that are actively breaking down organic matter into nutrients that plants depend on.
Wind often carries broken-down nutrients to the desert from afar, but wind and rain will carry those nutrients away just as quickly. High heat and lack of water also make it impossible for most plants to grow in the desert on their own.
However, the plants that do grow in the desert help retain nutrients and moisture in the soil with their roots. Olive trees can’t grow in the desert unless we take care of them by providing ample water, and when we do that, they grow tall and strong and plant their roots deep into the richening soil.
The more olive trees you help us plant in the desert, the more nutrients remain in the soil, and before you know it, the soil has enough nutrients to support a garden that will impress God.
“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice…”
—Isaiah 35:1-2
God’s Garden in Israel will Inspire the World
Have you ever seen a garden so beautiful that it motivated you to take better care of your own? That’s what groves in Israel will do for the world.
Israel has already set an example for resource management and agricultural development. It is by far the world leader in water recycling, as well as home to some of the largest desalination plants in the world—processing seawater into drinking water.
Countries around the globe have adopted techniques that Israel has perfected, most notably drip irrigation, a farming practice that was born in the Negev, created by Israeli researchers working to restore the desert.
Imagine how the world will react once they see how together, we transform the desert.
Olive trees and vineyards will blossom as the Bible foretold, and the world will notice what it says about You, the sponsor. You, the generous giver. You, the cultivator of God’s Garden.
Help us transform the desert into a garden for God! Sponsor an olive tree today!
