Early spring is the time I crave to renew the flower pots and yard beds. I spend the summer exulting in the display of beauty they bring to front and back yards. They’re no real carpets of color, but only accents that nevertheless delight the eye after a winter of brown grass and empty flower beds.

This year I debated between planting dianthus or vinca, which I usually plant. The difference is that dianthus is a perennial, while the vinca dies in the first frost and doesn’t return. Both are bright bloomers with vinca being most reliable, all summer and fall, and dianthus taking breaks from blooming from time to time; but dianthus also spreads and fills in to a greater degree. One advantage of the perennial is that I don’t have to replace so many of them every year. Once I asked my nephew, “When you’re planting your garden in the spring, are you thinking about what you will plant next year?” “Always! I’m always thinking about next year’s garden,” he answered.

On the very night before he died, Jesus knew that every word he said must last forever in the minds of his disciples, and for numberless others to come. He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He prunes every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will bear even more fruit. . . No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” (John 15: 1&4)

Gardening, planting and agriculture mark the beginning of civilization. They also mark a spiritual beginning of hope and anticipation. Jesus told his disciples that remaining in touch with his Father was mirrored by the joy and anticipation of a rich harvest. The goodness he offers is the joy of union with God in our lives. It is a close union, as the vines are actually part of the plant itself. Jesus also said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” ( John 15:11)

It’s a joy to be deciding which beauties to lavish on my yard, but a deeper and higher joy to know that I’m sharing this with the Creator behind all joy.

I decided on the dianthus.

Love in Him,

Prue