34. Garden picnic

Miriam and I rushed to the garden-rent office before they closed. We told them that we were very pleased with the garden. The lady responsible for the administration mentioned the price, which I understood was 80 Euros per year all-inclusive, which was very reasonable. She said she would do the paper work the next day and post it to us. I told her since it was a surprise for my husband I would come to collect the agreement from the office.

The following afternoon I went to sign and collect the agreement and get the key. To my great surprise I noticed the price was not 80 but 18 Euros per year. I could hardly wait to reach home to share the excitement with the parents and the girls. I reminded Miriam of the prayer she said for the garden. In my hands there was an agreement for unlimited use of the garden with the key for the price of 18 Euros per year; in time for birthday, no one could steal from the garden and it was cheap. God answered Miriam’ prayer just as she had asked Him.

The year before it was Branislav’s 40^th birthday, in Germany that called for a big birthday celebration. However, Branislav requested not to organise any party for him. He wanted us to go for a day trip to Donaueschingen, the source of the Danube river. We went to this small village to see a place just a little bigger than an ordinary well. When asked why he wanted to spend his “big” birthday there Branislav said: “My pastoral work is like the Danube river. I read about how small this source is. I also know how powerful the Danube is. Flowing through 10 countries about 3000 km long it reaches Serbia as a mighty river. What I do sometimes seems so small and insignificant and often I don’t see the results of it. But I need to trust God that somewhere along peoples’ life journey what I teach them about God becomes powerful and useful like the Danube river.”

We were so happy that we could present Branislav a gift he really wanted and God made it possible to have. For the day a surprise garden picnic was planned. The weather was still cold but it did not stop us from spending part of the day in a place we could call: “given to us to look after.” Mum and dad insisted that some garden tools were brought so that the work could be started right away.

It was a happy day for all of us. Branislav was so pleased with the present especially when he realised it was an answer to prayers. God showed His love to us in a thing that wasn’t of prime importance but mattered to us and made us happy. Mum and dad felt they were partaking in the happiness of God’s care and providing.

35. Mystery

Our garden made our stay in Germany more interesting. Not only because of the produce from it but the lessons we learned there. The girls definitely learned much about sowing, planting and looking after plants and flowers, but the adults learned many object lessons too.

Branislav spent the little free time he had in the garden. He was giving instructions to dad what needed to be done. I would then take dad to the garden to do the work. For the first two weeks there was something that battered me personally a lot.

Every time we would come to the garden, there were some tools left under the big plum tree. The first time it happened there was a long hosepipe, then a big plastic barrel, then a hoe and a rake. I was sure that someone was sharing the garden with us. I thought maybe the people who used it before started using it again. My thoughts were God gave us a garden but now we’ll have problems with it. I kept that to myself but I felt very disturbed.

Two weeks later on Sunday afternoon we all went to the garden. There were some gardeners on their plots, and for the first time we met our neighbour opposite of our plot. An elderly German gentlemen introduced himself. He said he was glad to see some serious work going on in our garden. He also said that he took the freedom to organize other gardeners to give us all the garden tools they didn’t need any more so that we wouldn’t need to buy everything.

We thanked our neighbour gardener for his kindness. However, I felt awful. I felt terrible for thinking and accusing God for giving us trouble after giving us a garden. It made me feel sick. How could I think about God in such a way? God went a step further and gave us additional blessings we didn’t even ask for. What kind of a person was I? Later on I found a verse that talks about it in Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (NIV)

Our garden taught us much about soil, weeding and harvest. We realised that even on a small plot of land it mattered where we planted different plants. We learned to adjust soil moisture, and the amount of light and shade with the needs of plants. We learned how weeds choke plants, and how each plant needs its own space to develop. Harvest is very important to be done at the right time; too early is not good but too late is not good either. All these lessons made us think what we do in our pastoral ministry. Jesus used so many illustrations from nature to help us understand the way people behave spiritually and our garden helped us to relive them.