By PENNIE RUMSEY

I still remember the first time I planted a seed in my first garden as an adult. I remember looking at the seed and wondering, “Will it really grow?” It appeared to be dead; without life, and yet it was only sleeping dormant. I wasn’t sure it would grow, but I planted it hoping that it might. It was a wonder for me to watch that seed burst forth into life. Nature truly has its own magic.

In today’s fast paced techno-world of IM (instant messaging), fast food, and super highways, we have come to believe that anything we have to wait for is not worth the wait. Our faith has been eroded by such man-made systems of instant gratification. When it comes to working for three months to grow, say, carrots or tomatoes we think it not worth our time because we can go to the store and buy them in an instant (relatively speaking).

But there is much more to growing a garden than the food we get out of the ground or the spiked value of nutrition when we grow food for ourselves. The most valuable thing my garden has taught me is the things I cannot see or touch; the unseen lessons of truth.

The lessons of the garden offer us the fertile soil that has been eroding at the foundation of our nation. Working in natural systems offers us a new way of thinking as we observe Nature in her natural form. As we see the slow growth, for example, of a plant we come to understand that life is not meant to be a fast change. Slow growth is sustainable. Fast growth has repercussions.

Life is meant to be lived one breath at a time, one day at a time, and even one moment at a time. This requires a conscious decision to slow down and observe.

There is much the fertile soil in the classroom of the garden can teach us, and has taught our fore-fathers before us. I believe every man rooted in truth has been rooted in the garden.

As we look to the hope of the harvest as a model of the kind of man or woman we want to become; or even the kind of nation we want our grandchildren to inherit; let us look to the garden to observe the Natural Law.

Pennie Rumsey will be giving a free seminar on Personal Victory on Saturday, October 22, 2011 from 2-4 pm. Please see flyers posted at Lin’s, the Post Office, and the Library for more details. Or visit her blog at victorykidsmom.blogspot.com.