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When Claire McGarry uses too much Miracle-Gro on her garden, she connects how important it is to root our dreams in God's will to sustain their growth.



As the earth brings forth its shoots,
and a garden makes its seeds spring up, so will the Lord God make justice spring up, and praise before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

 

Decades ago, when I first started gardening, I planted seeds versus buying plants already grown and nurtured in a greenhouse. I wanted the full experience of seeing those small, green shoots poke through the dark soil for the first time.  

The moment that happened, I wanted my flower patch to be as spectacular as possible. I immediately added Miracle-Gro to my watering can—and did so every Monday. I even dubbed the day "Miracle-Gro Monday." 

Weeks later, I had cosmos as tall as I was. It was spectacular ... for about a day. Then, because the growth was so forced by the chemicals, the plants began crowding each other out. Even worse, the tall flowers were literally falling down. The fertilizer had helped them shoot up fast, but it did so before they could grow deep roots into the ground to sustain their weight.

 

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We can learn so much from my gardening experience. 

When we begin any new endeavor we're excited about, we invest ourselves 110%. We stay up late, think about it while going about our other tasks, and use every spare second to nurture it. There are no words to describe the joy and elation we feel when we see our efforts break through the soil and shoot up.  

It isn't until we see our dream begin to sway, heavy with the weight of the expectations we've place upon it, that we realize we may have moved too quickly. If we haven't taken the time to root our efforts in God's will, the teetering can lead to toppling. 

 

Click to tweet:
If we haven't taken the time to root our efforts in God's will, our dreams teeter and sometimes topple. #catholicmom

 

Prayer is the deep-root Miracle-Gro for our dreams. When we intertwine our passion with time spent with God, roots grow deep into the soil of His garden. He becomes our Master Gardener: watering and nurturing, weeding and pruning. That combination of feeding us, and at the same time removing what holds us back, is what leads to an amazing harvest of beauty and sustained growth.

 

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Copyright 2022 Claire McGarry
Images: Canva