Gardens...

Gardens

I have been thinking about this coffee talk ever since Christine asked me to speak! Ok, really it has been longer than that...more like a long time, "what would I say if they asked ME to talk??!!" First I felt the Holy Spirit say, "you would say yes" and then I freaked...I like hearing people talk and writing, but not speaking necessarily! But God is bigger than any feeling and I'm willing to change! So, that being said, I was praying and really seeking the Lord on a particular area in my life and why I may be having "issues" there. What I got was gardens. I would love it if I made more time (and had the knowledge) for being out in my front yard doing yardwork, as well as have a garden. A good garden is well cared for, weeded regularly and pruned. It hit me that LIFE is a garden, plain and simple. Every garden has a gardener, whether good or not so good. A good gardener will prune, weed and carefully tend their garden. A not so good one plants and hopes for the best.

As I was praying I realized that life can be a garden with a Master gardener, it depends on us. The Lord is the Creator of the garden. The Bible starts out with the garden of Eden. Starting in Genesis 2:8 it states:

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.

God's ultmate goal was to create a place that man could live and sustain himself. God, being a Master gardener, created a place that supplied food, caught the eye and was self-sustaining (the river running out of Eden to the garden). The story continues in verse 15:

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

His voice was to be obeyed, had His voice been obeyed they would have lived! But we know the rest of the story, a deceiver came in and planted seeds of doubt. Another gardener; where God planted life, this one planted doubt and eventually death. This was a literal garden...let's turn it toward our own lives.

The Lord comes into our lives with His pruning shears and many of us want to run in the other direction, yet if given permission He'll still prune us. He prunes all that is garbage, all that is unnecessary and all that is unwanted...He prunes all the weeds and the dead spots. These things take valuable nutrients away from the areas that He wants to come to fruition. Sometimes He even prunes areas where everything was seemingly growing just fine, leaving us in a whirlwind of questions. This I chalk up to Him being a Master gardener, knowing what I possibly just cannot fathom or understand.


As I was praying I realized just how many other "gardeners" I had allowed access with their pruning shears. It dawned on me that the Master has so much more work to do when we allow other gardeners in! And how much work He has to do when I decide to be a gardener in other lives. But, BUT, if we listen and allow the Lord to come in and take over, prune and get rid of areas that are either dead or dying (or killing us) then after the shock of the initial cut He comes in with His gentle hand.

Isaiah 51:3 (New King James Version)

3 For the LORD will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the LORD;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

A hand that is filled with water, good soil and His Son.

Micah 5:2 (New King James Version)


2 “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”


He comes with fertilizer, His holy word, that if read will provide life altering nutrition!

Psa 18:30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Psa 56:4 In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?

Psa 56:10 In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word),

Pro 30:5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Isa 55:10, 11 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.


We've got to get this people; we've got to understand that God is a Master gardener, full of love and mercy (Eph), grace (Acts), and salvation (Luke)!

Luk 19:9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house,

Eph 2:4-9 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Act 11:23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

We are thrown curve balls in this race called life and we are given a choice: will we let Him come in and prune, or will we let the world come in and stifle?

Mat 13:22 "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

The Box...

I have a box. I've lived in several, only to have them blown apart by my loving Father. But that's not this box. The box I write about now is a literal box. Right now it sits in my closet toward the back awaiting my attention, as it has for the past year.

This box is full of memories, full of hurt and healing, full of lost dreams and love. This box was created shortly after my Dougie's home-going.

It's a process that I've put off. I can look at it now though. At first it was in the bottom floor of my old house...where I never went and therefore never saw which meant I didn't have to deal with it. Then we moved and it came with us. It sat in a corner of my family room in between a couch and a chair for several months until I decided it was time to straighten that room up. Then it moved to my room on a trunk. That's when the idea hit me to write about it.

As it has moved it's gotten closer to the destination of it's contents: a memory chest in my closet. I am all about healing and I know that healing comes when I deal with things and move on. I know that I won't truly move on until the Lord's loving, healing hands pour over me...and that only happens when I allow it.

I know that I have to go through this box and "blow" it apart so-to-speak, but I also know that grieving is a process best left to the loving hands of my Father. I won't delay it, but I won't rush it either...what's your box look like?