Author Topic: Welcome to the Gardening Forum!  (Read 7964 times)

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Richard Myers

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Welcome to the Gardening Forum!
« on: September 14, 2009, 07:42:48 AM »
Many of us have been gardening since we were children. Others are just beginning. It is something that God would have us all do. In this forum we shall discover much about how important gardening is and how do be a successful gardener! There is so much to learn!! And, it is so valuable to not only know, but to do!

Here are a few statements that will encourage all to participate:



***In the cultivation of the soil the thoughtful worker will find that treasures little dreamed of are opening up before him. No one can succeed in agriculture or gardening without attention to the laws involved. The special needs of every variety of plant must be studied. Different varieties require different soil and cultivation, and compliance with the laws governing each is the condition of success. The attention required in transplanting, that not even a root fiber shall be crowded or misplaced, the care of the young plants, the pruning and watering, the shielding from frost at night and sun by day, keeping out weeds, disease, and insect pests, the training and arranging, not only teach important lessons concerning the development of character, but the work itself is a means of development. In cultivating carefulness, patience, attention to detail, obedience to law, it imparts a most essential training. The constant contact with the mystery of life and the loveliness of nature, as well as the tenderness called forth in ministering to these beautiful objects of God's creation, tends to quicken the mind and refine and elevate the character; and the lessons taught prepare the worker to deal more successfully with other minds.

***"If possible, the home should be out of the city, where the children can have ground to cultivate. Let them each have a piece of ground of their own; and as you teach them how to make a garden, how to prepare the soil for seed, and the importance of keeping all the weeds pulled out, teach them also how important it is to keep unsightly, injurious practices out of the life. Teach them to keep down wrong habits as they keep down the weeds in their gardens.

***Let men and women work in field and orchard and garden. This will bring health and strength to nerve and muscle. Living indoors and cherishing invalidism is a very poor business. If those who are sick will give nerves and muscles and sinews proper exercise in the open air, their health will be renewed.
  
The most astonishing ignorance prevails in regard to putting brain, bone, and muscle into active service. Every part of the human organism should be equally taxed. This is necessary for the harmonious development and action of every part.  

Many do not see the importance of having land to cultivate, and of raising fruit and vegetables that their tables may be supplied with these things. I am instructed to say to every family and every church, God will bless you when you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, fearing lest, by unwise treatment of the body, you will mar the Lord's plan for you.

Many act as if health and disease were things entirely independent of their conduct and entirely outside their control. They do not reason from cause to effect, and submit to feebleness and disease as a necessity. Violent attacks of sickness they believe to be special dispensations of Providence, or the result of some overruling, mastering power; and they resort to drugs as a cure for the evil. But the drugs taken to cure the disease weaken the system.
 
If those who are sick would exercise their muscles daily, women as well as men, in outdoor work, using brain, bone, and muscle proportionately, weakness and languor would disappear. Health would take the place of disease, and strength the place of feebleness.  

***No line of manual training is of more value than agriculture. . . . Let the teacher call attention to what the Bible says about agriculture. . . . In the study of agriculture, let pupils be given not only theory, but practice...

A return to simple methods will be appreciated by the children and youth. Work in the garden and field will be an agreeable change from the wearisome routine of abstract lessons.

***For the lady students there are many employments which should be provided, that they may have a comprehensive and practical education. They should be taught dressmaking and gardening. Flowers should be cultivated and strawberries planted. Thus, while being educated in useful labor, they will have healthful outdoor exercise.

The influence of the mind on the body, as well as of the body on the mind, should be emphasized. The electric power of the brain, promoted by mental activity, vitalizes the whole system, and is thus an invaluable aid in resisting disease.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44592
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Re: Welcome to the Gardening Forum!
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2009, 07:55:29 AM »
God has given us great light that few have really appreciated to the extent we may. In another forum I have pointed out that Israel had an economy that came from God. We may learn much if we would study that economic system. The world would be blessed if it had patterned its economic system in like manner. I want to share a statement that is rather long, but full of truth. There are many blessings to be had in better understanding what is being said:

True, there are many difficulties to be met in presenting the truth even in Christian England. One of the greatest of these is the difference in the condition of the three principal classes, and the feeling of caste, which is very strong in this country. In the city the capitalists, the shop-keepers, and the day-laborers, and in the country the landlords, the tenant-farmers, and the farm-laborers, form three general classes, between whom there are wide differences in education, in sentiment, and in circumstances. It is very difficult for one person to labor for all classes at the same time. Wealth means greatness and power; poverty, little less than slavery. This is an order of things that God never designed should exist. Nothing of this kind was seen anciently among his people when he was their acknowledged leader. Valuable lessons might be learned by the rulers of today, if they would study the plan of government given to the children of Israel.

People were subject to misfortune, sickness, and loss of property the same then as now; but so long as they followed the instruction given by God there were no beggars among them, neither any who suffered for food. Their wise Governor, foreseeing that misfortune would befall some, made provision for them. When the people entered Canaan, the land was divided among them according to their numbers, and special laws were enacted to prevent any one person from joining field to field, and claiming as his, all the land that he desired, or had money to purchase. No one was allowed to choose the most fertile parts for himself, and leave the poor and less desirable portions for his brother; for this would cultivate selfishness and a spirit of oppression, and give cause for dissatisfaction, complaint, and dissension. 

By the special direction of God, the land was divided by lot. After it had been thus divided, no one was to feel at liberty, either from a love of change or a desire to make money, to trade his estate; neither was he to sell his land unless compelled to do so on account of poverty. And then whenever he or any of his kindred might desire to redeem it, the one who had purchased it must not refuse to sell it. And if the poor man had no one to redeem it for him, and was unable to do so himself, in the year of jubilee it should revert to him, and he should have the privilege of returning to his home and again enjoying it. Thus the poor and unfortunate were ever to have an equal chance with their more fortunate neighbors.

 
More than this, the Israelites were instructed to sow and reap their fields for six successive years; but every seventh year they were commanded to let the land rest. Whatever grew of itself was to be gathered by the poor; and what they left, the beasts of the field were to eat. This was to impress the people with the fact that it was God's land which they were permitted to possess for a time; that he was the rightful owner, the original proprietor, and that he would have special consideration made for the poor and unfortunate. This provision was made to lessen suffering, to bring some ray of hope, to flash some gleam of sunshine, into the lives of the suffering and distressed. Is any such statute regarded in England? Far from it. The Lord set needy human beings before the beasts; but this order has been reversed there, and, compared with the poor, horses, dogs, and other dumb animals are treated as princes. In some localities the poor are forbidden to step out of the path to pick the wild flowers which grow in abundance in many of the open fields. Anciently a man when hungry was permitted to enter another man's field or vineyard and eat as much as he chose. Even Christ and his disciples plucked and ate of the corn through which they passed. But how changed the order of things now! 

If the laws given by God had continued to be carried out, how different would be the present condition of the world, morally, spiritually, and temporally. Selfishness and self-importance would not be manifested as now; but each would cherish a kind regard for the happiness and welfare of others, and such wide-spread destitution and human wretchedness as is now seen in most parts of England and Ireland would not exist. Instead of the poorer classes being kept under the iron heel of oppression by the wealthy, instead of having other men's brains to think and plan for them in temporal as well as in spiritual things, they would have some chance for independence of thought and action.

The sense of being owners of their own homes would inspire them with a strong desire for improvement. They would soon acquire skill in planning and devising for themselves, their children would be educated to habits of industry and economy, and the intellect would be greatly strengthened. They would feel that they are men, not slaves; and would be able to regain to a great degree their lost self-respect and moral independence. It is not impossible that deer might often be replaced by equally beautiful herds of cattle; that landscape gardening and ornamental building behind immense stone walls might be carried on with less contempt for expense; that there would be less money to spare for yachting, and for building dog palaces and hiring men to care for them. Indeed, we might then reasonably look for simplicity of manners to be manifested among the higher classes instead of their present exclusiveness and notions of their own dignity, and for high thinking to take the place of high living. 

In a country where so large a part of the people are kept in such a state of servitude to the wealthy, and the higher classes are held in bondage by long-established customs, it is only to be expected that the advancement of unpopular truth will at first be slow. But if the brethren will be patient, and the laborers will be fully awake and thoroughly in earnest to improve every opportunity which presents itself for spreading the light, we are sure that an abundant harvest of souls will yet be reaped from English soil. By tact and perseverance, ample means will be found for reaching the people. 


What does this have to do with gardening?
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.