From Seeds to Queen Bean
Our gardens are out doing themselves this Summer. The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, and the green bean stalks are rivaling Jack’s.
All of the ladies had been enthusiastic to begin the adventure of seeds-to-harvest once the garden beds were prepared. We had embryonic seedlings residents of the greenhouse, and though we are still learning the complexities of organic gardening, we are quite confident of the Lord’s “green thumb” permanently in place in our yards and punctuating our greenhouse at the corner of Semmes and Carnes. All the ladies were prepped and exceeding all expectations for planting day, but one.
She is one of our newer employees who confessed she prefers the ice cream desserts, pies, and cakes our volunteers bring, and not so much the fresh vegetables offered daily.
We had noticed.
She hasn’t been inclined to eat anything that is un-breaded or never frozen. I had considered her indifference and underexposure to gardening was the result of windowless apartment living and lack of time and curiosity about how things grow and seeds multiply. Back in February, I gave her a sprouted sweet potato with the simple instruction to keep it wet, hoping I might turn her thoughts toward self-health.
When the early spring day for planting our cultivated seeds arrived, her assignment was to plant bean seeds and seedlings in our new garden boxes filled with fresh, rich dirt and compost. We have an irrigation system at last, and a steadily growing compost pile. The summer of ‘25 has promised to be one of plenty, raising our bar to an impressive new height.
Once all used gloves were pulled from tired hands and the spades back on the shelf with everything secured, there were wire cages for beans and tomatoes remaining. We had plenty of bean seeds to share as well. She had practiced in our garden so naturally, I encouraged her to take some seeds and bury them in dirt. She was insecure about her ability to master a patio patch and dubious that she could profit from something she didn’t fully comprehend. I also gave her a potato bag to house the potato vine, which she had been watching curl around her kitchen cabinets.
In two clicks a new day dawned! With incredulous breaking news, she initiated daily reports of the progress of the bean tendrils curling on the support on her patio. They were flowering, to her shock, and pointed upward, and the potato vine was pointed downward in the potato bag.
Last Wednesday, she sent three pictures on our employee group text of her first bean clinging to the vine. She claimed it as her baby and promptly named it “BEAN-oncé (like Beyoncé.)
Birth of a bean and the birth of a potential vegetarian! That may be a stretch - is ketchup a vegetable? She has considered freezing BEAN-oncè or leaving her on the vine to grow but is hopefully convinced with our prodding that she can dice her up for supper. BEAN-oncé, we have hopes, is part of a family moving in.
We have been cultivating our gardens for 13 years, and all of us have reaped abundantly and been beneficiaries of the harvests. Only one other employee showed similar affection when she picked her first cucumber. She cradled it in a paper towel and carried it to her family’s Fourth of July celebration.
The seed metaphors, replete in Scripture, are referenced often in our devotionals. Sowing the seed is so simple. One merely drops one seed in the dirt. If the soil is rich and welcoming, the Lord balances rain and sunshine to rouse from sleep a new creation. The rest is miraculous.
So it is with the birth of faith, which is far more extraordinary and eternal than the beautiful lush green leaves and vines which are primping on our corner. They will wither and fade at summer’s end. The future continues and the fruit multiplies for a believer in Christ. The Bible teaches that heaven rejoices when someone repents and turns to God. In Luke 15:7-10, Jesus highlights that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and this joy extends to all of heaven, including angels, as they witness the salvation of a lost soul.
It has been pure pleasure to witness joy overcome doubt in the eyes and the heart of our BEAN-oncé-growing employee. Her trepidation about gardening has transformed into conviction, and we are elated for her. If we so enthusiastically celebrate the birth of a patio gardener and her simple bean grown from a tiny seed, imagine the joy in heaven at the birth of a new believer.