Importance of plants and plantings for Christians
There are many things we can learn from the postmodern way of seeing the world. One of them is care and concern for nature, something that Christians often neglect and that is part of God's redemptive plan.
GOD IS THE CREATOR
Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis teach us that God is the creator of all that exists. The creation, although different from the Creator, reflects its character, in the same way that a work of art reflects the character of the artist who carried it out.
In Genesis 1:31 we are told that after finishing the creation, God himself declared that everything created was very good. This affirmation is important, because when declared good by God, creation has an intrinsic value, it is valuable in itself, it is not because it contributes to the support of the human race, it is not only because we can take profit of it.
God Himself has declared to be the absolute owner of all creation. This is a truth that repeats the psalms again and again (Psalm 24: 1; 89: 8-14;). In addition, the Lord continues to provide and sustain everything created. Psalm 104 is a master example in this regard. In response to this, the psalmist indicates that all creation recognizes and praises the Lord (Psalm 148).
THE VALUE OF CARING FOR PLANTS
I enjoy gardening so much ... I can spend hours watching my plants, planting them, planting new ones, discovering new ones ... in short. A flower garden is by far your favorite place in the whole world. It must have a special ability for it, what plants flourish.
The world would be different if everyone sowed to produce the food they needed.
I PRESENT: the symbolic, Christian and even ecological value of having a little plant and taking care of it.
- The preparation of the land
Certainly the preparation of the ground begins with the same Creator since he thought about us and in his image and likeness he made us. At the beginning we are fertile land designed to bear much fruit. Unfortunately, through the wound of original sin and our own freedom, during the course of our life that ground can be hardened. In a life where love has been lost sight of and routine has won some battle, the crust of indifference, insensitivity and excessive self-love is getting thicker. Breaking that crust inevitably costs work, effort, suffering and pain. But it is necessary to break it to soften the earth and make it fertile again. Certainly this work costs, as well as the plowing of a field.
- Planting
It would seem that the work had ended with the preparation of the land, as when the sower finishes with the plow of the plot and prepares to rest taking a glass of refreshing water, but he knows that it is still missing. The earth is ready, but now it needs the seed. The seed falls carefully from the hand of the sower. This is the part where grace works. We are that land but it will be the sower who chooses that seed destined to bear fruit ... and in abundance.
- The wait
Personally, this is the stage that I consider most difficult. The wait. That moment in which it seems that all the effort given was not worth it, in which the hours and days pass and nothing seems to happen. And they enter a terrible desire to throw all the work done overboard, to abandon, and in fact we do. Not infrequently, impatience and frustration win us and we abandon everything. The soil becomes dry again, the crust becomes thick and the seed dies.
- Care of the plants
The key to not abandoning waiting is to take care, to do something while waiting. Inactive waiting leads to frustration, but if we put our hands to the work and take care of the fruit that we still do not see, if we water, we put it in the sun when it needs it and we cover it with rain; Soon we will see that something happens. The sacraments, prayer, our own choices in everyday life are that care that our seed requires. Let us not sit and watch without doing anything, let's actively wait, cooperating with the Sower.
- Difficult times and weeds
Although the earth is fertile and the cares abundant, we are not free from temptation. We are not free that the plant grows without the inclemency of the weather or without the weeds growing. Jesus told us in the parable of the wheat and the tares that both grow together. There must also be an effort to remove them and make an effort because our little plant lives, in spite of them, and bears fruit. It is in these difficult times, the search for advice and training is necessary. See how we can take better care of our plantation and how to remove the tares without wheat dying ...
- The fruits
Finally the plant grows and almost without us noticing the fruit appears. The fruits are sometimes not as evident as the apple we see in the tree or the button-breaking margarita. Sometimes our fruits are evident in others, in the service we provide, in how much we love and give ourselves. And that fruit can pass for invisible in the eyes of others and even ours.
It is evident the importance that we must give to everything that surrounds us, especially the plants that are a gift that God gave us to care for and always preserve. Each part of the plants has a function and thanks to it we can acquire natural oxygen. In fact plants can not move usually live in a fixed place and although they do not eat like animals, they also need to feed themselves, for which they make their own food.
Plants are essential for the functioning of life, are responsible for the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat. With the completion of this work, we intend that children know the importance of plants and parts of it, also understand the importance of the growth cycle of plants through the experiment and finally try to make them aware of the importance we should give them to the plants to respect them and take care of them since they are oxygen for our lives and a gift from God which we must always keep.