Gardens for Life

Happy Thanksgiving! Today in the U.S. we’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Many have lost sight of the intent for the day and can only think of turkey, football and “Black Friday” materialism but the original Thanksgiving, which has been reiterated by many presidential proclamations, was for the purpose of thanking God for his provision of life and the sustaining of it through food and safety.

The Pilgrims who celebrated this first Thanksgiving were a church from England, formed in the 1600’s when they saw no hope for positive change in the Church of England. They were persecuted for believing that a person could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and for wanting to see “the churches of God revert to their ancient purity and recover their primitive order, liberty and beauty” (William Bradford)*, for believing that no one but Jesus could be the head of the church. They were “hounded, bullied, forced to pay assessments to the Church of England, clapped into prison on trumped up charges, and driven underground,” and “constantly spied upon”*. Finally, (to put it very simply) these “Separatists” had had enough and left England and set out for the “New World” of “America”.

When they arrived in the “New World” at Plymouth (now in the state of Massachusetts) weary from stormy seas and cramped quarters many became ill and died. Those who survived had little to work with physically or materially and knew nothing of this wilderness. Through an amazing combination of events, God sent the “Indian” Squanto to help them survive. He taught them how to fish and grow crops. Ah, here’s the garden part. Without the growing of food plants, they would have all died. Gardens were essential to their survival. But it wasn’t enough to just sow their seeds, even doing it the right way, it was up to God to make the seeds grow and give them favorable weather.

For this they were profoundly grateful. They celebrated God’s provision with a feast—together, as a community (not just as separate families). They invited some “Indian” friends who brought about a hundred more! In addition to the wild game the “Indians” brought, they shared from their gardens, “carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, radishes, beets and cabbages.”* The “Indians” had also dried and brought some summer fruits from the wild—God’s garden, “and introduced them to the likes of blueberry, apple, and cherry pie.”* They had popcorn too!

Thank you Lord for gardens and farms and for those who work hard tending them to grow our food.



*The Light and The Glory by Peter Marshall & David Manuel