A Gardening Life.
The Lord truly has blessed our garden. I have done nothing of myself. Not even water it, and it has grown. And grown. And grown. I prayed when we planted
those seeds, that we would use this garden as a blessing to others, that we would not be selfish with its crop, but give it freely. Lord help us to do this.
I have thought much of the parallels between a garden and the Christian walk. Weeding often brings me to this place where it seems so clear that sin sprouts
like weeds do, while the good things take care and nurture to grow. When left unattended, even for a seemingly short period of time, weeds (sin) covers the
ground and outnumbers the crop of a righteous seed. When the ground in soft (a soft heart) weeds come up easily, and by the root; but when the ground is
hard, they cling to the soil. In an attempt to clean up my garden (life, walk) I pull and yank at the endless amount of rubble, but if the ground is hard,
the roots tear at the surface. Nothing is uprooted, though there is a clean and tidied look at the surface of it all, there are countless roots of pride,
jelousy, anger spiderwebbing the earth of my heart. All of which take the first opportunity to sprout up again and continue to suck the nutrients from the
plants of patience, self control, selflessness, gentleness, compassion.
Conversely, when the ground is soft, when the heart is meek, the rubble comes up at the roots, not as strong as before.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream." (Jer. 17:8)
The seed must be planted, the earth must be watered, and watered, and watered, giving life to the soil and a soft heart - though it is the LORD, and only the
LORD who can make these seeds grow.
Let me water the earth of my heart, faithfully, keeping it soft and moldable so that You, and only You can make the seeds of righteousness grow, and the
weeds of unrighteousness be uprooted at their coming.
those seeds, that we would use this garden as a blessing to others, that we would not be selfish with its crop, but give it freely. Lord help us to do this.
I have thought much of the parallels between a garden and the Christian walk. Weeding often brings me to this place where it seems so clear that sin sprouts
like weeds do, while the good things take care and nurture to grow. When left unattended, even for a seemingly short period of time, weeds (sin) covers the
ground and outnumbers the crop of a righteous seed. When the ground in soft (a soft heart) weeds come up easily, and by the root; but when the ground is
hard, they cling to the soil. In an attempt to clean up my garden (life, walk) I pull and yank at the endless amount of rubble, but if the ground is hard,
the roots tear at the surface. Nothing is uprooted, though there is a clean and tidied look at the surface of it all, there are countless roots of pride,
jelousy, anger spiderwebbing the earth of my heart. All of which take the first opportunity to sprout up again and continue to suck the nutrients from the
plants of patience, self control, selflessness, gentleness, compassion.
Conversely, when the ground is soft, when the heart is meek, the rubble comes up at the roots, not as strong as before.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream." (Jer. 17:8)
The seed must be planted, the earth must be watered, and watered, and watered, giving life to the soil and a soft heart - though it is the LORD, and only the
LORD who can make these seeds grow.
Let me water the earth of my heart, faithfully, keeping it soft and moldable so that You, and only You can make the seeds of righteousness grow, and the
weeds of unrighteousness be uprooted at their coming.
I have thought about these verses a lot this summer as someone else is picking the raspberry/strawberry crop I planted and nurtured these past years... I love how God has given us His creation to teach us about Himself! We need to figure out how to catch up... do you have skype? I don't know if my cell phone accepts Canadian calls???
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