I am by no means a master at gardening, but I do get a great deal of satisfaction from it, and it has given me spiritual insight with regard to prayer.
For example, Jesus said in the book of Mark: “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:26, 27). Once the gardener has prepared the soil, making it a suitable environment for the next stage of the process, there comes the part that is not within the realm of responsibility for the gardener. And that’s the part from the germination of the seed to the formation of the fruit. However, the natural expectation of the gardener is so intrinsic during this stage that questioning the seed’s progress rarely, if ever, enters thought.
OK, so how does this relate to prayer?