God is using my garden, along with His Word, to teach me how to be a better parent. Today, my toddler, baby, and I clambered outside to check out our vegetable garden. I was excited to show her the peas because I knew they were producing fruit. "Carla, look, peas!" I said. "Would you like one?" "Yeah," she chimed. I plucked one off the vine and showed her how to crack it open. After eating all the peas and then spitting them out on her baby brother, Carla moved on to the other bed with the corn and carrots. We dug up a carrot just to see if it was ready yet (it wasn't but we ate it anyways; correction, I ate it. Carla chewed it and, you guessed it, spit it out on Perry).
Moments later, I was ripped away from cleaning half-digested carrot off of my son by a horrible ripping sound. It was Carla attempting to pull a corn stalk right out of the ground. Thankfully, they're in there pretty deep. I hollered at her to stop and showed her, yet again, that we pull weeds, not plants. Carla doesn't get it yet. Oh, she says "Otay, Mommy" but five minutes later, she'll be pulling my peppers out of the ground if I don't stop her. What does this teach me about parenting - patience and diligence, along with a healthy dose of perspective. One, it's only a plant. It was once a seed. It cost me 5 cents. Sure, my sweat and desire is tied up in that plant but how much more my daughter - this precious gift from God.
I have to remind her, again, and then show her, again, what is a weed and what is a plant. And then remind myself that even I have a hard time distinguishing them sometimes. Patience. I have to watch her closely, even study her to see how I can help her grow. That corn will be gone in the Fall. Lord willing, my daughter won't. Diligence. Jesus used such a simple circumstance to remind me to have patience with my daughter, diligence in instructing her in His ways and perspective - teaching her His Gospel is what really matters.
