This dry and barren ground

I feel the closest to God when I'm in my garden. It's a spiritual experience to take a patch of dry and barren ground, work it, and then see the fruits of your labor spring forth.

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..." Genesis 3:17-19


This curse is brought forth in fullness in a half acre patch of my backyard. The area in question is thick with  thorns, weeds, poison ivy, and all sorts of ilk. But last summer I was astonished to find that growing in the midst of Adam's curse were the most beautiful and fragile flowers -- passion flowers. It was like they were breaking through the curse and offering hope to a hopeless stretch of ground. Their beauty seemed to overshadow the ugliness just a few inches below. How could something this beautiful survive this treacherous landscape?


In some sort of spiritual fashion, nature was playing out the salvation story. When God cursed the ground and dealt the punishment Adam deserved for his disobedience, it was God who also provided a means of salvation and hope. He promised Adam that one day his seed would rise up against the curse and conquer it. That happened when the passion of Christ led him to the cross and in the cursed ground he spent three days only to rise in splendor. Much like these passion flowers.


Later that summer the passion flowers turned into the most incredible and sweet passion fruit. And as I savored the fruit I was reminded yet again that the best things in life are freely given to us by God.