How much light is enough?

It is time to think about planting my garden again. Paul, my husband, built me three nice raised planting beds, and for the first few years we had great crops of tomatoes, cucumbers , green peppers and green beans. But for the past couple of years, the crops haven’t grown well.

The vines are spindly, the vegetables misshapen, and overall, not worth the effort. We did the same things each year: fertilizing, augmenting the soil, providing water, and caring for our young plants, but each year the garden became worse and worse.

What we finally recognized was that the tree in our neighbor’s yard has grown enough over the past ten years to block more of the sun. My garden boxes, which used get about 12 hours of sunlight, now receive only five or six. The plants can’t grow. I’m not sure what we are going to do about this, outside of cutting down our neighbor’s tree!

This made me think of God’s light. We need His light to grow. As new Christians, or even older ones, unless we have light we will eventually become stunted, misshapen, and useless to His kingdom.

How much of God’s light do I get every day? How much time do I spend exposing myself directly to my Heavenly Father in prayer, bible reading, and contemplation? Is it enough to keep my mortal-self growing in a spiritual way?

How about you? Do you need to move your spiritual garden so it is exposed to more light? If you feel like you are stagnant as a Christian, perhaps this is the reason.

Blessings to you this week as you bask in the sun and the Son!

Regina