Written By Ptr Kevin Scoggin
My wife and I recently planted a garden. We were thrilled with the idea of growing our own produce organically. We have a number of friends who are successful gardeners and decided we could be too. We dove in headfirst. Little did we know what a commitment a few plants could turn out to be!
We planted our little guys on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. A little dirt and water—what else could they need right? It wasn’t long before my wife and I realized that we had actually undertaken a full-time job. We quickly found ourselves pitted in a no holds bar, knock down drag out with the most ruthless caterpillars you have ever encountered. Not only were these guys were vicious, they could shred an entire broccoli leaf overnight, they were perfectly camouflaged as well making their detection nearly impossible. On top of that, as Mother Nature would have it, May turned out to be the wettest months in Oklahoma history. This meant every time a thunderstorm rolled through town (every other day) we would run outside and come up with some way to partially cover our bigger plants while bringing the smaller ones into our our living room. More often than not, we forgot to do this before the storm, which meant we were constantly running outside during the storm.
After a few weeks of this pattern—in out, in out, spray the caterpillars, crude rain cover, in out, in out, spray the caterpillars—we lost the battle to the caterpillars and the rain decimated all but a few of our heartiest vegetables. It didn’t take long for me to see that in the world of gardening, the only things that don’t need cultivating are weeds. Weeds are easy. They happen without trying and they are often hard to get rid of.
Somewhere in this process it occurred to me that our lives are like a garden. Each area of our life whether a relationship, a job, or dream is like a different plant. Each area is unique in its needs just like a tomato plant needs a different amount of water than arugula or onions. As I began to ponder this, I realized the profound implication this can have on pretty much every area of your life—the important things in life need cultivating. Cultivate means to foster the growth of something. So, what are you fostering the growth of in your life? It’s easy to sit back and allow weeds to take over the garden of your life. But fruit only comes when we learn to intentionally cultivate what we have been given.
So let’s get practical for a moment:
- If you want to have a thriving marriage spend time cultivating your relationship with your spouse. Learn to ask intentional questions at the end of the day. Get beyond “how was your day”. Take each other on date nights. Learn what makes your spouse feel special and come alive and then do it!
- If you want to thrive physically then cultivate your health. Invest in your self. Hire a trainer. Join a gym. Spend some time researching food and health. If you aren’t where you want to be today it’s because overtime you let the weeds take over. Take responsibility and make a decision to cultivate your health today!
- If you want to thrive financially cultivate your understanding of how money works. Pull in trusted friends and mentors who are winning with money and ask them what they do. Read books. Get out of debt. Give. Save.
You cannot have fruit without putting in the time to cultivate your garden. Every area of your life that matters needs some level of cultivation. You may be in a season where your marriage really has a lot of weeds but your finances are fine. Cultivate accordingly. It may not be easy and you may not see the fruit of it immediately but it is always worth it. Weeds are easy. Weeds are for the lazy and weak hearted. So grab those suckers by the root and start cultivating!
