My dead garden’s unexpected lesson

Vancouver writer Ian Mark Ganut reflects on the death of his tomato plants, and wonders if there are spiritual lessons to be learned.

I killed my tomatoes last summer. All of them.

Not just "oops, they're a bit wilted" dead. We're talking complete plant cemetery. And trust me, it wasn't from lack of trying. I watched every gardening video on YouTube. Checked on them twice a day. Talked to them (yes, really). Nothing worked.

My neighbor Steve's garden? Thriving. Mine? Let's just say it looked like what would happen if a desert and a compost pile had a sad baby.

Then one morning, while I was sulking around my failed garden, something caught my eye. Right there, in the middle of last year's forgotten tomatoes (okay, fine, I'd been too lazy to clean them up), was a plant. A healthy one. Growing all by itself.

I stood there for a good five minutes, just staring at it. You've got to be kidding me.

The one plant I didn't obsess over, didn't plan for, didn't even want – that's the one that made it?

It felt like God was trying to tell me something. Maybe even laughing a little.

See, I'm the kind of person who likes plans. I make lists for my lists. I want things to happen on my schedule. Yesterday, preferably. Sound familiar?

But this stubborn little plant taught me three things I can't shake:

1. Control is overrated
All my careful planning led to dead plants. Meanwhile, this accident was thriving. Kind of like how my perfectly planned life usually goes, actually.

2. Sometimes Plan B is the real Plan A
That random plant? Gave me more tomatoes than I could eat. Made me wonder how many times I've missed out on good stuff because I was too busy forcing my own plans.

3. God's timing is... different
And by different, I mean it usually makes no sense to me until later. Sometimes much later. Like, years later.

I've got a friend who's still waiting for "the one." Another who's stuck in a job she hates. I'm dealing with my own stuff too. We're all waiting for something, right?

That tomato plant is still out there, by the way. Still growing. Still producing. Still making me shake my head every time I look at it.

Maybe you're in a waiting season too. Maybe nothing's growing like you planned. I get it. But take it from someone who accidentally grew more tomatoes than he knew what to do with – sometimes the best stuff happens when we loosen our grip a little.

And hey, if all else fails, at least my accidental tomatoes make a pretty good sauce.

Ian Mark Ganut leads a young adult ministry in Vancouver. When he's not accidentally growing tomatoes, he writes about finding God in ordinary moments. Check out more stories at https://medium.com/@kuruzaki241. Photo of tomatoes by Rasa Kasparaviciene on Unsplash.