CHILD OF GOD IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Having an identity and a sense of place where that identity is loved and respected as an individual but is also connected with others is important for healthy development. A good gardener is intentional about the seeds to be planted and about the place where the seeds will be planted.

I remember taking an Organic Gardening class several years ago.  I was given habanera pepper seeds to prepare for planting.  I put them on a tray, covered them and waited for the seed case to crack.  Then I put them in a seed tray in good potting soil, and put the tray in a place where the seeds would receive the right amount of sunlight, watering them every day. When the sprouts grew tall, I took these tender shoots with very delicate roots and transferred them into a bigger soil cube and took them out to the green house where the environment was controlled for conditions conductive for growth.  Mean while I worked in the garden, preparing the place where my seeds would be planted; digging, clearing, feeding, and watering the soil.  At certain times of the day I would take my seed tray outside of the green house, hardening them up and getting them acclimated for their final transition to the garden.  Then I planted the seeds in the soil I had prepared, watered them daily, and watched them grow into strong pepper plants that eventually produced beautiful crimson red peppers.  When they were ripe I picked them and watched them be transformed into a delicious hot salsa that I enjoyed eating along with the other bounty from the garden.

I knew the seed I was planting; I knew the conditions that were required for the seed to mature; I prepared the place and the soil where the plant would grow, and I maintained the conditions around the plant that made for good, healthy growth.  It took a lot of time, a lot of attention, and most of all a loving dedication for that seed to reach its full potential; but it was all worth it.

Do I attend and care for myself as much as I attended and cared for that seed?  Do I attend and care for those around me as much as I attended and cared for that seed?

It’s a big world and there are many seeds.  I get overwhelmed and exhausted even thinking about all the attention and care required to make the world a better place to live.  Then I remember something Mother Teresa said.  “Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest to you.”  If every person attended to and cared about themselves and the people nearest to them, everyone would be attended to and cared for.  There is something about a whole, healthy individual that is empowering and contagious to the individuals around them.  They will produce good fruit that will produce a good community that will produce a good nation that will produce a good world. All it takes is time, attention, and a loving dedication to have each individual reach their full God given potential. “According to Thomas Aquinas the purpose of social life is to foster the common good and to make each participant in civil society a better person, which is to say, more completely ordered to God.” (Robert Barron, Word on Fire, pg 141)

God is the Master Gardener.  He attends and cares, and respects the identity of each individual that will grow and mature into a garden of people, fed, watered, and tended by God himself, each bearing the fruit of the Spirit and attending to and caring for one another.  This to me is what being a child of God in the kingdom of God is all about.