Category Archives: In My Garden with God

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Transplants

Each of these flowers shown above I have transplanted – either from a friend’s yard, or within my own yard. Thankfully they have thrived in their new locations and even grown producing more blooms. My husband Phil, my “hole digger”, has been known to ask “didn’t we move that plant a couple years ago?” The answer is yes, because our yard is an ever changing landscape.

We have lived in our current location 21 years and the environment in our yard has changed. Where there had once been abundant sun, now we have shade. The sun hasn’t changed, it still shines and warms the earth just as God intended it to. We have planted trees in honor of each of our grandchildren and as those trees have grown, so have the shaded areas of our yard. So, if plants that love sun are growing in the shade, I must transplant them if I want them to bloom.

Transplanting can be traumatic for plants. Peonies may take a year or two to adapt to a new location before they start blooming again. I was walking around our yard with my friend Alice Marie. We were looking at plants growing in the shade. She commented “You know that saying “bloom where you are planted” doesn’t always hold true.” The light bulb in my brain went off – “You are right, Alice Marie!” I replied. I had recently moved a lily and a peony from just this area because they would NEVER have bloomed where they were planted.

That caused me to think about our lives. As we follow Jesus in our journey through life we will face dry, unproductive periods. These dry seasons of life may have multiple causes. Sometimes it is burn out, sometimes circumstances have changed, sometimes we have changed. Maybe we need to consider a change in environment.

Another friend, Joyce, has recently decided, after much prayer and seeking God’s guidance, to move to Texas. She is leaving her beloved mountains because she wants to be near her grandchildren and have a positive impact on their lives. “My granddaughters won’t even know me except for a once a year visit and Facetime calls.” Joyce told me. “I know this is such an important time in their lives and I feel the Lord wants me to be near them.” So Joyce is being transplanted. Her house has sold and she is planning to move, with her daughters blessing, to Texas. I know Joyce will eventually bloom there and be a blessing to her family.

As we age, sometimes we need to be willing to be transplanted. My parents sold their home and came to live in our home for 8 1/2 years. Then they transplanted again to a retirement community near one of my brothers. Each move had challenges and rewards and God used each move to further their growth in Him. My older brother and his wife moved to a location between two of his children in Oregon, again, to be closer to family. God has led them to serve in their new community in ways they didn’t anticipate.

In the Bible God moves people around, sometimes willingly and sometimes with resistance, yet always to further His purpose in their lives. Think of Abraham, Ruth, Jonah, and Paul, to name a few. Just as my yard is an ever changing landscape, so are our lives as we follow Jesus. We may experience great things in our lives and feel that they are moving along well, then suddenly we aren’t. It may be God preparing us for a change – a move. It is important to exercise caution, though. If we transplant just because we are facing a trial, we may miss the lesson God is teaching through that trial in our current location. Sometimes a move may not be to a new location, it may be a change in our hearts. Yet other times it may require uprooting us and placing us somewhere where we can bloom again.

In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus is warning his followers of dangers of listening to false teaching and the resulting baroness –

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

We need to examine the fruit in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If this fruit is not currently evident in our lives, it may be time for a transplant. A new location may allow us to bloom and bare fruit again allowing us to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives.

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Make Room

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This gingko tree has such a vibrant color each fall. The leaves are such a pure yellow and, as many Asian artists throughout the centuries have painted, they have a unique and pleasing shape.

The shape of this tree is also lovely. That is thanks in large part to my father’s recommendation that we remove a poplar tree that was growing behind it. The gingko tree was very small then, only about 3 feet tall. My father knew that the poplar would grow much faster than the ginkgo and the shade from the larger tree would cause the gingko to grow crooked. So, to make room, Phil cut down the poplar tree.

Now that decision was not automatic. Phil pointed out that the poplar tree was healthy, provided shade, and was also a desirable tree. Yet a choice had to be made – make room for the gingko – the only one we have on our property, or leave the trees to compete for sunlight.

We literally have hundreds of poplars on our mountain property so the decision was made to cut that poplar down. Yet it was not easy to remove a healthy tree that wouldn’t impact the smaller tree for several years to come. The issue was to make room for the future well being of the gingko tree. Something good was being removed to allow the growth of something better.

How like the decisions we make daily! I can easily fill my day with “good” things to do – but am I making room for the BEST things? We all know about the tyranny of the urgent. The pressure we feel to do the thing that seems most critical at that moment. Yet when I stop and consider what really matters – what is a priority for me as a follower of Jesus – my decision may change.

The real issue for me is not choosing between making a meal for a recovering friend or taking a walk on the Greenway. (I can take walk on the Greenway after I take the meal 🙂 The issue for me is recognizing the seemingly unimportant activities I engage in day to day that don’t make room for responding to the Holy Spirit. For me – these may include –

  • checking Facebook – (for me a bottomless pit)
  • checking my 1300 unread emails
  • finishing the zig saw puzzle
  • watching TV

None of the above activities are inherently wrong. Seeing grandchildren’s pictures on Facebook, catching up with old classmates, or reconnecting with friends from the past are all a blessing. I use Facebook to post this blog. I also need to check emails – ok – I can hear the AMEN now from several of you. Watching TV is a pleasure that can make us laugh, inform us, and entertain us when used thoughtfully. Yet all these things also use time, time that squeezes out room for the “better things.”

Luke 10:38-40 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Now making meals is important. We have responsibilities to our families, jobs, churches, and community that God has called us to. Jesus was admonishing Martha because she had not made room to listen to Him, and was worried and unset at her sister. Mary had a heart that desired to hear Jesus.

As with the tree, I need to choose what to cut out so that I make room for the Holy Spirit to lead me and speak to me. Then I will continue to grow in my walk with Jesus, making room to sit at His feet. Then we can become “like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither,
and they prosper in all they do.” Psalm 1:2-3

#In My Garden with God

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I Need Your Help – Really?

“Phil, I need your help. I want to move the gardenia bush from the pot it has been growing in. It’s root bound and needs more space.”

Phil obligingly gets a shovel and a wheelbarrow and says – “Where do you want the hole?”

“Right here.” I reply. I am standing next to an especially favorite hydrangea between a calla lily and a yellow daylily. I have positioned my self to “protect” these plants from the shovel. So I say to Phil –

“Don’t step there!”

“Dig from this side.”

“Watch out for the lily poking through.”

“Don’t pile the dirt there!!”

Phil stops digging and asks – “Do you want my help or not?”

The realization of my request for help sets in. I want Phil to dig the hole because I am not able. YET – I have made it impossible for Phil to help me with the limitations I have put on him. He has to stand somewhere, and the dirt he digs to make a hole has to go somewhere. I am not really asking Phil for “help”, I am telling him what to do.

This realization got me thinking about my cries of help to God. I may be facing a crisis and cry out to God “Help me” yet in the next breath I am telling God what to do, when to do it, and the outcome I expect.

I am giving the God of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, creator and sustainer of all things – advice. Really?

Proverbs 3: 5-6 says –

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

Do not depend on my own understanding…

How often I think I know what is best… for myself, my husband, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, my acquaintances, my enemies, even random people I don’t know – “That person should just…”, my grandchild’s coach, the referees or umpires, my pastor, the worship leader?

The list could go on and on couldn’t it?

How totally presumptuous of me!! Is God thinking – “Do you really want my help or not?”

The answer is TRUST. I must trust in the Lord with all my heart. I must surrender my will to God’s will. God knows the big picture as well as each small detail of my life, i.e. the number of hairs on my head. Scripture is very clear on the fact that God has a plan for all of creation and a plan for how I, as an individual, fit into that bigger, glorious plan. He will direct my path.

To finish the above story about transplanting, I left to get water to soak the newly transplanted gardenia since Phil did not need me telling him HOW, after I told him where I wanted it planted. When I returned, Phil had placed it in the newly dug hole and the surrounding plants were just fine.

Trust.

# In My Garden with God