Tag Archives: trusting God

by

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

by

Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise

I hear so much wisdom in the sayings of mountain people. “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” expresses what we need to remember during these past 2 years of COVID, quarantine, and isolation.

I would imagine that each of us have had plans that didn’t work out the way we hoped during this time.

  • trips
  • birthday or anniversary celebrations
  • weddings
  • vacations

Our family has faced several of these situations – all the time realizing how very much we have to be thankful for. Most celebrations can be rescheduled, but those who have lost friends and loved ones face permanent loss, times that can only be redeemed in eternity.

I want to have the attitude expressed by my mountain neighbors – my plans should be based on the will of God while realizing there are circumstances beyond my control. If the road to your house crosses the creek and that creek rises, it is not safe to cross, so you stay home.

James 4:13-15 says this –

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Sounds a lot like “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” doesn’t it?

Blue Heron in the Tuckasegee River at the Jackson County Greenway

I

by

The Little Things

Many of the “big things” have been taken away from us recently.

  • birthday parties
  • funerals
  • weddings
  • baby showers
  • celebrations
  • graduations
  • JOBS!

So, we are left with the little things.

I bought these tiny vases at the pottery festival this year with the idea that I would pick tiny flowers and display them together, multiplying their impact. As you can see from the photo – it worked! These little violets grow all around the edges of our yard, but go unnoticed because they are small. Their delicate beauty would be lost in a large bouquet.

Georgia O’Keeffe, who painted very large canvases (some 30ft. by 30ft) said that she saw people pass by beautiful flowers without noticing them. “I will paint these flowers so large, you will have to notice them,” declared O’Keeffe.

and she did…

and they did.

Now we are left with the little things as we stay home and practice social distancing, respecting the health of our families, friends, and neighbors.

This is more difficult for some folks than others. I have two members of my family who seem to be enjoying the social isolation very much. Their introverted personalities thrive in quiet, contemplative times.

Several others of us feel a void of social interaction. Two of our granddaughters have been reported to me as whiny and even crabby. (I guess you could ask Phil if the same is true of their Nana.) As extroverts, our souls feed on social interaction, and right now, they are not being fed in that way.

Yet I am learning to appreciate the little things. Our yard has never looked so good this time of year. A large part of that is due to all the rain and a mild spring, but additionally, since I am home, I have weeded and trimmed places that have been at the bottom of my “list.” I am finding great joy and peace in my garden.

I sense God’s presence there.

After all, it all began in a garden, didn’t it?

Before there were all the “big” things, there were just two people and their Creator. They walked together in the garden in the cool of the day.

So, during this time of social isolation, I have the opportunity to “walk with my Creator.”  I can sense His presence apart from the usual rush of life filled with the “big” things.

Psalm 16: 8-11

8 I know the Lord is always with me.
    I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

9 No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.[

    My body rests in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul among the dead[
    or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
11 You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.

It is also a time for prayer. There are many suffering because of COVID-19.

There are others who are suffering because of life events apart from this crisis.

My prayer is that I will use this time for God’s glory –

noticing the little things and allowing them to satisfy.