As summer time is rolling, my outdoor activities increase. Two of my favorite summer activities are “freshwater fishing” and “gardening”. Among all types of freshwater fishing, trout and sunfish fishing are fun and exciting, when fishing in local creeks. Most fishermen would agree with me that live earthworms is a universal bait for both species. The only problem, however, is you have to purchase them if you don’t want to dig them up from your own backyard or outside fields. And, you need to store the left-over worms, after each fishing trip, in a cool area to prevent them from dying. The expense of purchasing earthworm would quickly add up when trips to the local creeks increase. So, I switch to use my fly fishing gear instead of live bait fishing recently, in order to minimize my expense. However, live bait is still considered to be more effective than fly fishing in catching fish.

When it comes to gardening, I find that in addition to good sunlight exposure and irrigation, earthworm is also a key ingredient to vegetables in your gardens, as they would fertilize and soften garden soil if they are in the gardens. After contemplating a while on how to maintain the fun of fishing and gardening, I decided to do a little bit of research in earthworm farming project. Of course, I turned to internet resources to find out how to do it. Finally, a few weeks ago, I found time and necessary materials to set up a 3-tier worm farm. Weeks later, I was delighted to see the first reproduction of small worms in my worm bin. Hooray… they are growing, even though it is not fast enough to my wife’s like because she is eager to use worm water (discharge) to fertilize our garden 🙂 Anyway, the worm farming seems to be promising.

The growing experience is great and I have learned a few lessons too. One is “Healthy and happy worms would reproduce” and the other is “Patience is always needed”. For the first one, I find that using right materials and right method are two imperatives to have healthy and happy worms. This includes right worm bed and materials, initial worms, and right food sources, etc. Talking about patience, you will need to wait patiently for the worms to grow because there is a timing for everything!

When I reflect on this experience, I find similarities in our spiritual journey. Firstly, there is a life, there is a growth. Our spiritual life can grow because we have the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Without the Holy Spirit, we are as dead as Adam and Eve, spiritually, when they ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). Secondly, the growth of spiritual life needs to have a good environment. In addition to good fellowship group and church, study God’s word and listen to sound teachings, we have to shun away from sins and evil things in order to grow our spiritual life that is holy and pleasing to the Lord. As last Sunday, pastor Hui’s reminder, there are 3 do’s and 1 don’t in Paul’s teaching of Romans 12:1-2. They are: 1-Do: offer your bodies as a living sacrifice; 2-Do: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind; 3-Do: To test and approve what God’s will is; and then, 1-Don’t: Do not conform to the pattern of this world.

Finally, we need to wait patiently for God’s timing. This probably is the biggest challenge for most of us. Oftentimes, we want to see result of our church ministries right away and are easy to get discouraged when nothing obvious is in our sight. No wonder patience is also called “long suffering” :-). Let’s learn to know God’s will and wait patiently.

So, dear brothers and sisters, my question to you is “Are you growing?” I hope your answer is “Yes!”