Gardening is a lesson in patience. It is most obviously a laborious task; you weed and you water, you water and you weed. But it is also a task of faithful endurance. Most often, labour workers see immediate progress and build upon or repeat it. The gardener must be patient: you weed, you water, and you wait. Furthermore, unlike other labour workers, the gardener must rely on more than his own power and skill to produce his goods. This takes faith – and with a little faith, goods he will produce indeed!

Still, to go home everyday and know that tomorrow the weeds will return and the ground will once again be dry, is a frustrating and humbling reality. The gardener must have faith in the land and its maker, trusting that they will do their part in the process. In a world of immediacy, gardening is an activity of patience and reliance, but this summer – for weeks with nothing to show for it – I began to question the work I was doing. I asked, “Is this work worthwhile? Am I furthering the kingdom on earth? Is my work good work?”

The answer was not immediate and it was not the abundance of Kale, Sweet Peas, Chard, Spinach, Lettuce, Potatoes, Zucchini, Squash, Tomatoes and herbs that fulfilled my time in the garden. It was not the harvest that gave me hope in the land or its maker. Instead, it was the faith that I found along the way that revealed the cooperative nature of the earth. The patient gardener must align his work with God’s work and align his hands with the rhythm of the land; and through faithful labour, I found my work to indeed be good.

–Ben McCullough

Ben spent his summer as the first-ever summer intern at Cedar Haven Farm in Hamilton, Ontario.