What you see is the view that greeted me as I sipped my first cup of coffee this morning. It's not my usual view because this is not my kitchen window. It is my friend, Lisa's.
I am a part of the scene now. I helped select the tomatoes. We bought them yesterday after I arrived. I know the story of the African violet whose flowers I called so very pretty. "It is new here and hasn't had time to die yet," she joked. And she has an aloe plant. Like in the verse above, my visit to this Florida friend taking me far from my Midwestern cornfield life is very much a spreading forth of a sort of garden. Tomorrow, we'll make it even more concrete: transplanting her tomatoes and tidying her flower beds because these are tasks we both enjoy. But it will be more than that for what the Lord is planting is also taking root in good soil and growing.
Sometimes, it is good to get knees sunk deep in the garden soil, and get the view focused on the placement of the tiniest of seeds. Other times, it is good to stand up and step back and look at the garden with different eyes. Eyes that see its larger dignity: that it represents a planting that lasts for far more than one earth-garden cycle.
Take time to concentrate and see: because sometimes an aloe plant in the window can be much more than just an aloe plant in a window...
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