1) How do you understand the title of the text?

“Rite” is a kind of traditional ceremony. The author means to dedicate this essay to the coming spring when he can once again start gardening, although the time is still months away. The title “The Rite of Spring” is borrowed from Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), the famous Russian musician, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, known especially for his ballet music including The Rite of Spring.

2) What does the author mean when he says that perhaps gardening had to do with human nature?

Man was created by God to be a gardener. He took care of Garden of Eve. As his descendants, we are gardeners by nature.

3) What is at the heart of all gardening?

To create a garden is to search for a better world. In our effort to improve on nature, we are guided by a vision of paradise. Whether the result is a horticultural masterpiece or only a modest vegetable patch, it is based on the expectation of a glorious future. This hope for the future is at the heart of all gardening.

4) What does the author allude to by saying “And that’s what gardening is all about—character building. Which is why Adam was a gardener.”?

He alludes to the sentence “The seed is the Word of God.”This singular sentence from our Creator unites two worlds—gardening and character-building. The Word of God, the Seed, Christ within, only has the potential of fruitfulness, but it requires a receptive heart, good soil, which is explained in Matthew 13. The more we align our gardening practices with the character-building principles of the Word, the greater success we will have in both realms.

The author also refers to the sentence “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart.”

After God fashioned man of the dust of the ground in Creation Week, he took time to plant the first garden (Genesis 2:7-8). And He planted it in a place called Eden “Eden” means pleasure, delight. Adam saw with his own eyes what would happen when perfect Seed was received in perfect Eden soil.

The garden was to be man’s schoolhouse, his lesson-book of life, his resource for vitality and happiness. There, in this special Eden home man was to come in contact with the Seed and experience His satisfying and fulfilling productions.

The garden, then, becomes the laboratory of the character-building principles of the Word. There we can experiment with heaven’s principles, and observe as did Adam (in a much smaller way) the effect on man’s character counterpart in the garden, the plants.