September 24, 2023
DAILY CARE AND KEEPING

1. From the album Teach Me to Walk in the Light.
2. From the albums Heavensong and America the Beautiful.


Daily Care and Keeping
The Spoken Word, September 24, 2023
By: Lloyd D. Newell

Years ago, a couple planted a vegetable garden for the first time. Eagerly looking forward to fresh produce later in the year, they carefully selected plants, placed them in good soil, and set the sprinklers for regular watering. Then life got busy, and every so often they would check on their tender plants. When the time came to pick the vegetables, they were disappointed to find that insects had attacked the stems and leaves, and rodents had eaten what little of the harvest survived.

The next spring, the gardeners tried again—this time with even better soil and fertilizer. But their plants again succumbed to pests. It took some time, but the gardeners eventually learned what they needed to do: check on their garden each day. It was fairly simple. Yes, it took a little time and was sometimes inconvenient, but a daily check-in allowed them to watch how their plants were progressing and spot potential problems early, before they became disasters. So, they made a visit to the garden part of their daily routine. These check-ins didn’t need to take a long time or a lot of work; they just needed to be consistent.

Our lives are much like a garden: we need care and keeping—daily care and keeping. If we’re too passive about our personal growth and progress, weeds and pests creep in, and we don’t end up reaping the happiness we’d hoped for. A daily personal check-in gives us a chance to see how we’re doing and where we’re going—as the biblical proverb says, to “ponder the path of [our] feet” (Proverbs 4:26). We can determine whether we’re living by what we believe and valuing the things that really matter to us. We can catch problems while they’re still small and prepare for hardships that might be coming. We can remove from our lives anything that could separate us from the guidance and strength of our Heavenly Father, our source of light and nourishment.

The sun does not nourish a vegetable garden all at once. It happens day by day. Similarly, small moments of pondering, praying, reading scripture, and showing love help our souls to blossom and continuously grow. Our daily habits and routines make all the difference in harvesting the kind of life we really want to live.