Tag Archives: faith

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Refuse Pile

It is that time of year – time to clean out the old and trim off the dead stalks and leaves so that new growth can flourish. I LOVE this time of year! For some people I know it just means more work – but for those of us who truly love gardening – it is the foretaste of things to come. Each time I trim off last year’s old dead growth from a plant it creates in me an anticipation of the new growth to come.

What once appeared dead will come alive!

As I trim off the refuse, I put it in the wheelbarrow and then dump it over the bank. We have a steep bank next to our lower driveway and these trimmings, dead branches, and leaves are out of sight and create a home for little woodland critters. As I was dumping a load Friday I noticed a lonely, lovely bloom that had pushed up through the refuse pile. How in the world did it grow there? It is not a nurturing environment at all.

It made me think about the plants, dreams, ideas, and even people I have given up on – “thrown away” because I no longer need them or feel like anything good will come of them.

I am SO thankful God has never given up on me!

We are studying Isaiah in our Women’s Community Bible Study and these verses are an expression of the hope (a new shoot) that will come from an “old stump”.

Isaiah 11:1-3

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    He will not judge by appearance
    nor make a decision based on hearsay.

Most Bible scholars believe that this refers to Jesus – I agree. God has taken us from the refuse pile of this world and given us new life through Jesus. What appeared dead now has new life!

I pray that we can share this grace we have received from Jesus with others. Not judging by appearance or hearsay (verse 3) but with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. Just as we should not give up on others, we should not give up on ourselves.

In My Garden With God #30

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Weed or Flower?

“Nana, look! This is my favorite flower!”

Our granddaughter Rachel was helping me water our flowers near our front porch and wanted me to show me something quickly. I was so surprised by her choice of a favorite flower – a bloom that I consider a weed. More alarmingly, it was just at the point where all the seeds are ready to fly away.

… and make more weeds!

Rachel obviously did not share my dismay. She was thrilled that it was ready for her to blow on and that she could watch each tendril float gently away on the breeze.

How differently we saw and responded to the very same plant!

As I thought about this I became aware of how frequently this situation occurs in life. People are faced with a common situation but respond very differently. One person sees an obstacle as a challenge to overcome while another person sees the same obstacle as a barrier that prevents them from moving forward at all.

So many factors influence how we respond to various situations. It may be our personality, our past experiences, our mood at that moment. Any parent with more that one child experiences these variations in response on a daily basis! A family outing is planned and one child is excited while another complains “that’s dumb, do I have to go?”

It would be a dull world if everyone liked all the same things. There would be no variety, nothing unique or different. Just think for a minute if there was –

only one kind of flower

only one flavor of ice cream

only one style of music

only one style of clothes

only one form of worship

God in in his infinite, creative wisdom created each human being as unique, and that uniqueness is more than just a one-of-a-kind fingerprint. We are different from one another in body, mind, personality, and spirit.

Conflict often arises because we don’t value one another’s differences – we think others should think and act like we do because we think we know best or our way is best. Paul addresses this very issue in Romans 12:3-6a

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

Dandelions are not my favorite flower, but I can see why Rachel likes them. There is something delightful about those weedy seeds floating away when you blow on them …

May God give us grace to celebrate the vast variety of his creation.

In My Garden With God #

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In Season and Out of Season

Camellia

I was complaining to Phil recently about my camellia bush blooming out of season. “These beautiful blooms will all turn brown when it gets cold again!,” I fussed. “It is still winter and these flowers open up as soon as it gets warm.”

“Just enjoy them whenever they bloom.” Phil admonished me. “It doesn’t matter what season they bloom.” And this coming from someone who grew up thinking the four seasons were baseball, football, basketball, and hockey….

The more I thought about it, the more I realized Phil had a point. I LOVE the blooms of flowers. If I enjoy my camellia blooms in April, what is preventing me from enjoying them in December, January, and February, too?

Only my attitude.

They did turn brown two nights later, but I had already picked 5 and we enjoyed them in vases for a week. It was like a touch of spring in our house.

These early blooming flowers have also reminded me of God’s faithfulness and God’s desire that we be faithful.

Just as I should be thankful that the flowers are blooming instead of lamenting the timing, our Heavenly Father wants me to be ready to share the good news of salvation through Jesus whether the timing seems perfect or not. I need to be ready in season and out of season.

In II Timothy 4:2-4 Paul is encouraging young Timothy to be ready to share the truth of Jesus.

2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 

3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 

4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 

These verses, written around 2000 years ago certainly describe our current culture, don’t they? I know that I am often guilty of not recognizing opportunities to share the Gospel because it is “out of season” – not the situation or timing I am used to or comfortable with.

I need to be ready in season and out of season.

I am so thankful for the encouragement I receive in my garden with God.

 

# In My Garden with God   24