The gardener in me loves lavender. It smells amazing and attracts bees which helps to pollinate my summer vegetable garden. 

Recently, I decided to add a few more lavender plants to the backyard. I visited a local nursery and came across Provence Lavender. It is an interesting mixture of English and Portuguese varieties and has a few properties that make it stand out. The primary difference is it can grow to become very large. The perfect filler for some of the open spaces in my backyard. But there is another unusual quality, according to the label, they seem to prefer “…poor soil…” I thought it was a curious characteristic, yet encouraging as my home is firmly planted on a bed of clay.

I selected one of the lavender plants and headed for the cashier. I’m pleased to report it has found a wonderful sunny spot with more than enough room to accommodate its large potential growth.

It’s a little funny, plants usually grow best in rich, well-drained soils. Very rarely do you find one that asks to be planted in poor ground. So out of curiosity, I did a little more research, and here is what I learned. Although Provence Lavender grows well in poor soil, it does need ample sun, occasional watering, and a gardener’s hand to prune and maintain. So, for this little lavender plant, it appears where it’s planted doesn’t matter but how it’s cared for makes the difference.

I’ve come to recognize that I’ve been rooted in some poor soil conditions. A first marriage that grew my doubt as a woman, infertility that cultivated insecurity and expanded my feelings of worthlessness, and a workaholic mindset that fed my pride but produced some pretty unhealthy emotional and physical outcomes. I tried to add achievement and greater and greater responsibility to improve my potential to grow and bloom but all I found was exhaustion and frustration. My soil was dry and unproductive, yet I kept trying to deepen my roots in the hope of finding a well of spring water to give me life.

Provence Lavender can grow in poor soil but what about you? How is the ground you’re planted in impacting your ability to thrive and become the woman God created you to be? Perhaps this little lavender plant knows something we have become blinded to when it comes to growing. Perhaps it’s not always about where we are planted but rather who is caring for us.

As a gardener-in-training, I read a lot of books about helping plants grow and each says pretty much the same thing. All plants need space, the right temperature, light, water, air, nutrients, and time. Most of these elements I can’t influence as I gardener. But I can fertilize, water, prune, remove the bugs that threaten the plant’s health, and encourage them to grow. And as I think about my bad ground, I know that is how I’ve survived. God took all those hard-growing conditions and used each one to make me stronger. He walked with me through times of drought and provided refreshing water. He pruned the pride that was choking out healthy attitudes and removed the infectious beliefs that would have overtaken me. He is the Gardener of my life and regardless of the soil I find myself placed in, He is available to care for me and He is here to care for you.

The author of the Book of John writes this about our Father the gardener,

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”

John 15:1-4 (New Living Translation)

I want to challenge you to consider that our growth will require us to surrender to the Gardener’s skilled hands, allowing him to prune and trellis our lives according to his perfect understanding. It will require us to acknowledge that we all live in a broken world and in fact, we too are broken. Yet, by remaining focused on God’s light and receiving nourishment from his Word, we will thrive and grow despite where we are currently planted.

My lavender plant has doubled in size. It has started to send out stems and small buds are forming. Soon, the bees will have a new source of nectar, and my garden a new hope of pollination. And as I watch the whole cycle unfold in front of my eyes, I will be encouraged – poor soil or not, I can grow and thrive right where I’m at and so can you.

Be blessed BeLOVED,