A Bit of Earth: A Year in the Garden with God
Prayers, poetry, and Scripture for a life in the garden
2024 For the Church Book Award Runner-up
In A Bit of Earth, Andrea G. Burke looks at the seasonal practice and common grace of gardening through a devotional lens. Part memoir, part prayer book, A Bit of Earth weaves care and intent through moments of ordinary living. This book is a lifelong resource of Scripture, poetry, and prose on the life of faith for contemplatives, gardeners, and believers.
God walks in the garden at the cool of the day. The Lord is with us when we dream about what plants to grow and when we drag our feet to pull weeds. He is with us when we preserve the fruit of our hard labors. He is with us even when we weep at the desolate, snowbound landscape of winter.
Whether you’re new to gardening or already have a green thumb, anyone can learn how to garden and cultivate the soil of their hearts through A Bit of Earth.
Praise for A Bit of Earth
In this rich and poetic book, Andrea Burke welcomes us into her garden so that we can almost feel the dirt on our fingers, the waiting for growth, the battle against weeds and bugs, the joy of the harvest, and taste of its bounty. But far more than that, she plants in us as readers a desire for Christ to dwell richly in us, ridding us of what will choke out spiritual life and beauty, and growing in us abundant fruit of his Spirit.
—Nancy Guthrie, bible teacher and author of numerous books, including Even Better than Eden: Nine Ways the Bible’s Story Changes Everything about Your Story
As she reflects on her own careful cultivation of her garden, Andrea Burke’s tender and devotionally rich writing in A Bit of Earth will cultivate vital growth in your own heart. This is a beautiful book.
—Jared C. Wilson, assistant professor of pastoral ministry and author in residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; staff pastor for preaching and director of the pastoral training center at Liberty Baptist Church, Kansas City, Missouri
Andrea's poetic reflections on the gospel through the lens of gardening are simply stunning. Her writing invites readers into a slower, more observant, and appreciative way of thinking. Those who love to garden will relate, those who’ve never planted will want to start, and all will want to open the Word and rest in the Master Gardner himself.
—Emily A. Jensen, author of He Is Strong: Devotions For When You Feel Weak
There’s far more of heaven in the dirt than you might realize. In A Bit of Earth, theologian/gardener Andrea Burke closes the gap between the sacred and the mundane, and points out the deep connections between seasons on earth and seasons in heaven.
—Kevin Maloney, lead pastor, Grace Road Church, Rochester, New York
- Winter
- The Final Death
- The Work of the Cold
- The Days of Rest
- Counting the Seeds
- The Waiting Season
- Hidden Friends
- The Winter Table
- Hidden in Winter
- The Empty Season
- Grief
- The Days of Dark
- The Lonely Season
- The Dark and Tender Season
- Spring
- The Late Snow
- Stuck: The Mud Season
- The Prep Season
- Watch the Birds
- Planting and Tending Seeds and the Starts
- Potting Up, Hardening Off, and Withstanding Winds
- The Return of Life
- The Thinning Season
- The Resurrection Season
- The Stormy Season
- The War of the Weeds, Part One
- Summer
- The War of the Weeds, Part Two
- The All-Consuming Season
- Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
- The Pruning Season
- The Hidden Fruit
- The Mimic Weeds
- The Storms of Destruction
- After the Storm
- The Garden Pests
- The Heat
- Blood, Sweat, and Tears: The War of the Summer Garden
- Easy Fruit and Abundant Harvests
- The Days of Light
- Autumn
- The Lord of the Harvest
- The Fall Garden
- The Feasting Season
- Remembering Failures
- Watch the Farmer
- Good Soil
- Preparing for Death
- Preserving for Later
- Tired and Weary Season
- Gathering Seeds and Planting for Spring
- Perennial Care for Next Year
- Goodnight Garden
- Title: A Bit of Earth: A Year in the Garden with God
- Author: Andrea G. Burke
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2024
- Page Count: 280
- Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
- Trim Size: 5.25x8
- ISBN: 9781683597421
Andrea G. Burke is the director of women’s ministry at Grace Road Church. She is married to Jedediah, and they are raising their two kids, two dogs, two cats, a few strays, three ducks, and a lot of chickens in an old farmhouse near Rochester, New York.