Nurturing the Garden of Humanity: Cultivating Hearts and Minds

Good Soil, Good Seed Series

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.

 -Genesis 2:15

From the beginning, God gave humanity the responsibility to cultivate and tend His garden. Jesus later teaches that we are a part of His garden and our hearts are like soil, capable of receiving seed and producing fruit (Matthew 13). That means we have stewardship, a responsibility over our own hearts and influence over the hearts of those entrusted to us. God calls us to help create lives that are healthy, fruitful, and well-tended.

As the school season begins for some and approaches for others, our attention turns to the well-being of our children. Parents, teachers, coaches, relatives, activity organizers, and other trusted adults all have opportunities to consider what children need and the influences to which they are exposed. These seasonal markers help us refocus on what matters when life becomes busy or distracting.

At the end of last school year, I had my children help me redo part of our flower beds. We pulled out the old plants, removed weeds, tilled the ground, planted the flowers, watered, and laid mulch. We prepared the soil in hopes that the flowers would flourish. I planted them in early spring because I knew that if their roots were not established before the intense summer heat, their chances of survival would decrease.

Before long, weeds began growing beside the flowers. As I started pulling them, I sensed the Lord reminding me that good soil will grow whatever is planted in it. That thought brought children to mind. Children are good soil: impressionable, receptive, and full of potential. If we do not guard and nurture them, many kinds of seed can take root—some beautiful and life-giving, others harmful and destructive.

The Enemy Also Sows Seed

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

- Matthew 13:24-25

In my flower bed, the prepared soil supported both flowers and weeds. In the same way, children can receive good seed that bears good fruit, but they can also receive harmful seed that produces weeds. We cannot ignore the presence of destructive influences. Jesus reminds us in John 10:10 that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Bad seed can come through obvious wounds, such as abandonment, abuse, or trauma. It can also come quietly through repeated influences, unhealthy habits, harmful relationships, music, media, or patterns that become strongholds. While we are unaware or asleep, the enemy works to establish roots that disturb and spoil the soil.

Be on Guard

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

-Proverbs 4:23

If we do not tend the gardens of children’s hearts and minds, weeds can take over. And the same for our own individual hearts. The Bad seed will draw strength away from what is good, beneficial, and life-giving. Over time, unhealthy influences can harden the soil, making it difficult for good seed to take root. This is why adults must not only plant good things, but also guard, cultivate, and remain attentive to what is being sown. Weeding and breaking up hardened ground can be painstaking and tedious, but we have been called to do a great work, and God has built us for hard things.

Doing Good

Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.  So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

 – Galatians 6:9-10

Jesus warns that while the kingdom of heaven is sowing good seed, the enemy is also sowing bad seed. Harmful things can enter a child’s heart through repeated influences, family patterns, unhealthy environments, trauma, words spoken over them, and behaviors modeled around them.

Some children may appear to have difficult soil, but that does not mean they lack potential. It may mean they have endured harsh conditions or received harmful seed. Still, God is able to speak life, restore what has been damaged, and renew hearts. The work before us is not hopeless; it is holy stewardship.

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

– 2 Chronicles 7:14

We are called to be the hands, feet, and mouthpiece of God in the lives entrusted to us. One plants, another waters, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). Our responsibility is to ask Him for wisdom, strength, patience, and endurance as we tend the gardens before us.

Prayer

Lord, we hear Your call to tend the gardens of our lives and the lives of the children You have placed within our influence. Help us not to be complacent, inactive, or negligent. Give us grace, wisdom, and love to nurture hearts, guard against harmful seed, and speak life, healing, wellness, blessing, and abundance through Jesus Christ. Teach us to pray, contend for the faith, and care faithfully for Your creation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.