My wife (and Sadie) have a little garden in the corner of our yard. Our neighbor (also named Kim, so we call her Kimmy) planted some things in the front of her yard. Kimmy’s garden has been sabotaged by rabbits; our garden remains safe from Peter Cottontail and his family. Kimmy has been asking people for advice on how to keep the rabbits out of the garden, and she’s received lots of tips from folks.
- spread human hair (gathered from the local hair cuttery) around the plants.
- but some fencing and put it around the garden
- kill a rabbit and sprinkle the blood around the plants
What’s worked for us? Simple–we have 3 cats that keep our yard rabbit-free. In fact, our cats like to share the wealth with us. Just about every morning we wake to find some evidence of their productivity on the front porch. Turns out that not every part of the rabbit is edible for the cat. Who knew…
This summer we’ve been studying the fruit of the Spirit with our middle school students. I believe that God wants to grow the fruit of his Spirit in all of our lives. That’s what God does. The normal progression of spiritual development produces fruit in our lives. But some of us have rabbits in our gardens, and those rabbits have a tendency to nibble on the growing fruit, leaving us with very little harvest.
What are the rabbits? Well, the devil actively works against those of us who follow Jesus, trying to prevent that fruit from growing. Our own habits and tendencies have a way of stunting the growth of fruit. Our bad choices–sin–stop the fruit of the Spirit from developing. I find that I am challenged every day to respond to people and situations in ways that are consistent with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). When I don’t respond correctly, the fruit withers, gets nibbled, and dies. When I give in to anger, selfishness, bitterness, greed, pride, etc the garden tends to get destroyed.
Over the course of the last few years, I’ve learned something that helps me. It’s hard to bring myself to write it, but I need cats in my life. One feline friend is my mental state. When I’m aware of the potential for a coming rabbit, living intentionally and prepared spiritually, I handle life’s ups and downs better. I’ve also come to realize that a few key people asking me questions about the things that tend to rob my garden help me live intentionally. I’ve been blessed with some trustworthy friends who hold me accountable for my life/garden.
So how do you keep rabbits out of your garden? What are you doing to make sure that your life is full of the fruit of the Spirit of God?
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