River City Connections—2026-08-24 (Patreon)

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SO LONG GARDEN by Cindi Curtis Allen

I took off a little early today so I could get some work done in the garden while there was still a little bit of mercy in the day.

The plan now is simple enough: I need a shower, we need to have dinner, and then I’ll put in a couple more hours of work later tonight before bed. It has been one of those very ordinary, very full days, and sometimes those are the ones that tell the truth best about life.

Alas…the garden did not make it.

The scorching heat has been relentless, and if I’m being honest, Michael and I got a little lax too. A garden in Memphis summer is not something you can casually keep an eye on and expect to thrive. It needs attention, consistency, and water right on time. We had good intentions, but good intentions do not keep cucumber plants alive when the feels-like temperature is trying to melt the whole county.

Next year, we want to set up a timer system and be more deliberate from the very beginning. I think that will help tremendously. If we can automate the watering and make it dependable, then even on the busiest days the garden will still have what it needs.

And Memphis summer is not Colorado summer. Not even close. In Colorado, you can have sunshine and heat, but there is often a dryness to it that still leaves room to breathe. Here, the humidity settles on you like a second layer. You walk outside and immediately feel it. The garden feels it too.

That led me to a devotional thought today. Psalm 90:17 says, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands” (NIV).

I like that phrase, “the work of our hands.” Today, mine were quite literally covered in dirt. And if I judged the summer only by what I pulled out of that garden, I could probably call all that work a failure.

But not everything we put our hands to is going to turn out exactly the way we planned. Sometimes the result is something beautiful that lasts. Sometimes it is experience, humility, or the wisdom to do something differently next time.

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