The Bible is filled with references to gardens, plants, sowing, reaping … and the list goes on and on.  Shelley Cramm looks at these verses with a gardeners heart, and has created a hybrid devotional/ study Bible based on the gardening truths found in God’s Word.  This study Bible provides daily Bible readings for an entire year.  Topics include:  Garden Tours, Garden Work, Garden Tools, and Garden Stories.  The sub-title to this NIV Bible is “grow your faith while growing your garden”.

Shelley was the delightful speaker for the September Round Table meeting at First Baptist Church Richardson.  What a blessing it was to hear her share Biblical stories from a gardener’s point of view.  Shelley has a blog at gardenindelight.com.  On this site, she gives the following description of this study/devotional Bible:

If you . . . bring leftovers home to your compost pile. . . believe in the difference between cultivating and weeding . . . have chosen a home because of a tree. . . never feel lonely when you garden alone. . . have always wondered about the meaning of mustard seeds. . . sense an unexplainable peace from gardening and you’d like an explanation . . . this book is for you!
– See more at: http://www.gardenindelight.com/books/niv-gods-word-gardeners-bible-grow-faith-growing-garden/#sthash.07UEQ68b.dpuf

This is a beautiful Bible.  Under the dustcover, the hardcover also has this pretty image.  I like that.

This is a sample page.  The bookmark gave me something to think about – “Believe your garden to be among God’s great garden stories.”  I had never thought of my garden in that manner.

Life began in a garden.  Jesus retreated to a garden to pray.  Garden lessons abound throughout the entire Bible.

This was the last slide Shelley shared.  I love these verses.  I feel that Shelley’s desire is for us to meditate (study) upon God’s word so that we may be like “trees planted by streams of water, which yield fruit in season”.  I am thankful that I was able to hear Shelley.  She certainly gave me new insights into the “oldest gardening book”.

Blessings to you and yours,