If you want to garden the easy way, go to the Midwest where the summers are hot, humid and predictable. If you want to be a master gardener, move to Wyoming and learn how to garden the hard way.
In Wyoming, the spring might come in February, or maybe March, or maybe April, or maybe May. But whenever spring decides to come, you can almost count on a hard frost in May or maybe even June. A master gardener learns to wait to plant.
In Wyoming, hail might come in July or August, just when the tomatoes are beginning to load up with fruit. Some years it might come in April or May or June. A master gardener learns to watch the clouds. And, when those hail clouds come and unleash their fury, a master gardener learns to suffer a loss and move on.
The summers may not be overly hot in Wyoming, but at the higher elevation, the sun can sure bake the ground. Couple the sunshine with a lack of water and the master gardener learns how to irrigate.
Take a drive through Wyoming and what native plant do you see? Grass, clinging tightly to a little bit of topsoil, lest it blow away. The master gardener does not sit back and watch things grow, he spends his spare time working a shovel to bring in more mulch and more manure.
And, when the master gardener has found success, there are three more lessons he must learn. He must learn how to build a fence to keep out the deer, he must learn how to trap to get rid of the coons, and he must learn what to do with an endless army of grasshoppers that love nothing more than to eat.
Gardening might be harder here in Wyoming, but there are rewards. Not only is there the reward of fresh vegetables on the plate and jars full of food in the pantry, those who struggle to garden in Wyoming are also rewarded with the ability to overcome adversity and become master gardeners.
The Christian life is like that, too. The best way for God to make us the salt and light that He intends us to be is not by putting us in comfortable surroundings that are free of trials. Rather, God makes us master Christians by exposing us to the hard trials of this world. What trials is God exposing you to today? Learn from these trials to better find God’s mercy and grace. And when you overcome the trials and reap the rewards of the harvest, be sure to thank God for the lessons he used to make you a master Christian.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4