My family shares parts of a farm in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Some of the land is meadow, and there are several flower gardens and a vegetable garden. We raise chickens, which supply eggs, and guinea fowl, which help us keep bugs and snails under control. Also, it’s not unusual to see a peahen or a peacock roaming around.
My contribution has been designing, planting, and weeding. In the past I have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of weeds and felt discouraged in my efforts to sustain plant growth. But recently, the weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly alerted me to the realization that my thoughts and actions should not be hampered by material and mortal beliefs concerning creation.
I felt that this quotation from Isaiah, from the Responsive Reading in the Lesson one week, was meant for me: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody” (51:3).
