sowingseeds

In gardening, the term cultivate is the process of breaking up the soil surface, removing weeds, and preparing for planting. It has been said about gardening that the more effort you put forth toward your gardening, the more you will be rewarded. The same is also certainly true about raising children.

When preparing for your children, there is much cultivation to be done. You will certainly have to break up some of the soil in which you have become accustomed to prepare for the life of a new little one in your home. You will have to rearrange things, from furniture to your schedule.

Pulling weeds out of our own lives is often a difficult and never ending job. This could include ridding your own life of habits that you don’t want in your child’s life.

Preparing for planting entails many different ideas. This could be reading as many books or articles as possible. Another way to prepare is to talk to seasoned parents to get an idea of what kinds of things worked with their children. I believe the idea of being rewarded based on the effort you put forth in preparation rings just as true with parenting as it does with gardening.

I am not much of a gardener, but I know that when you prepare to plant something, you must spend much time in preparation. It takes time to gather your tools and to prepare the area in which you desire to grow your garden.

Gathering tools may be the simplest part of your task. You can find lists and ask other more experienced gardeners what kinds of tools may be necessary for the task. Learning to use these tools is often another matter. Sometimes it takes practice before you become adept at using this new equipment. The time spent learning to use the proper tools is most often beneficial and the benefit can often be seen sooner as well as later.

Preparing the area is the next large task. This can be very time consuming and sometimes back-breaking. Lots of measuring, clearing, cleaning, tilling and fertilizing is required for most areas to be an effective garden.

These ideas are all true in planting seeds in our children’s lives as well. It takes huge investments of time to prepare the soil of their hearts. We must gather tools, we will benefit from asking more experienced “gardeners” for tips, and we must clear the area of rubble and fertilize it if we want the seeds to grow without the hindrance of weeds that so often crop up.

Sowing seeds in the lives of our children is the most important task for parents. The society in which our children are growing has become filled with rubble of all sorts and our clearing of this debris is imperative to the harvest we will reap.

When my children were still small I read a book entitled Tend Your Own Garden First by Nancy Eichman. It was really an inspiration to me. I like the images it uses from gardening and how it relates them to parenting. The book focuses on teaching our children about God. It includes chapter titles like “Planning the Garden”, “Gathering the Tools”, “Preparing the Soil”, “Planting the Seed”, “Pulling Weeds” and “Reaping the Harvest”.

It has been several years since I read this book, but skimming back through it has prompted me to want to read it again now that my kids are entering their teen years. This book is easy to read and provides clear images to impart its message. Each chapter ends with a series of reflection questions.

In the quest to raise our children right, we must be sure that we are tending our gardens at home and cultivating the environment to reap the best harvest possible.