THE GARDENER

I have been thinking about the spring. Not trying to rush things, as much as just thinking about the beauteous things that are to come. My husband is the gardener here. He creates an amazing secret garden for me to play in all spring and summer. He is magic with what he does.
   He always begins our spring gardening after the really heavy rains. That is the best time to transplant or pull the weeds up when the ground is saturated. When we grab hold of the dandelions at that time that’s when they just come right out. So smoothly, so little effort on our part, every bit of the root just slips out.
     But as the ground dries out it becomes much more difficult. Lots of times, especially with the tough strong weeds, you can only pull off the top that is showing. But, the root is still there as strong as ever, and will grow another weed just like the one you yanked off.
   That is so much like my walk with the Lord. The weeds are the sins that come up in my life. The saturated ground is like my heart; saturated with the living water of God’s Holy Spirit. When the ground of my heart is saturated with His Spirit and power, the weeds slip out easily. And, if I don’t let them get big, if I catch them before they grow down deep (by His power) they almost pop out
   The bigger the dandelion, the bigger the sin. The longer it has been there the deeper and stronger the root has grown. Sure you can yank the top off, and I might even look tidy and cleaned up. But the Lord is the ultimate gardener. It is His goal to remove every weed/sin as soon as it springs up, because it is so much easier to free the ground of my heart.
    Some sins in my life have been there for years. I have tried so hard, in my own power, to up-root them. But, do you ever see the ground spit the seed out itself? No the ground is simply there to grow whatever has been planted, beauteous flower, delicious food or useless, annoying weed. The ground, as my heart, is merely a receptacle, a holder of the seed, good or bad.
    It really has taken me a life-time to realize that I am not the gardener of my heart. He is my gardener. The wasted years of trying to pull up the weeds myself (no matter how saturated the ground) made it lay fallow, unusable, unfruitful in that particular area of my life. Actually certain sins can grow so deep that they actually have little rootlets and runners. You think a thing is gone in your life. Even with the Lord removing it. But the runner silently grows underneath, side-ways in the ground of my heart and it pops up almost stunning me, because I really think it’s gone. These tricky little rootlets branch off in lots of directions.
     I am not a very good gardener. I go at it all scatter-shot. It takes my knowledgeable husband to keep the garden in order. I have yanked up important things, and accidentally nourished weeds, because they looked interesting at the moment and filled in so nicely. My ignorance is staggering. It is the same in my heart. I must rest in Jesus. I am the ground. He is the gardener. He always plants good seed. Some weeds are tricksters and make a fool of me. I actually nourish the sin along, thinking I am doing a good thing! But my job is to let Him tend this garden of my heart. Let Him pull up what needs to be removed, and water, tend and nourish what needs to grow and mature.
   Oh yes, and there is the pruning. I have been known to prune a plant until it looks like a Charlie Brown stick. I have also begged to leave something growing that I thought looked wild and wonderful, Bill gently reminds me that this plant or that plant is getting away from us…until I have to give in, because even though it is a perfectly nice plant (like my wisteria) it is choking the heck out of the poor lilac bush!
    So I will give my pet wisteria a haircut, but I don’t like it. I always imagine it hurts it… Silly I know, but sometimes it hurts me when God has to prune things from my life for my own good. But it is so important because I can miss the fact that some things are choking others out. But God doesn’t miss a thing. He is patient and kind. He is the Husbandman. He treats the ground of my heart tenderly while He works to make the plants of His choosing flourish. I need to be still under His hands. Soak in the sunlight and the richness and the beauty. I need to seek His grace and the watering of His Spirit every day, to quietly wait and watch as He creates.
    I miss spring and summer. I miss the golden light and the greenness and the vibrant color. But God gardens in my heart every day. It is not seasonal; He will produce rich fruit daily in my life if I will let Him. I have learned two very important things; first, keep the soil well watered with His Spirit through prayer and the word. If the ground dries out, I am in trouble. Second; I cannot pull up the weeds myself, any more than I can produce the delicious fruit on my own. It is Him, not me that does both.
    So how does your garden grow? Sometimes mine is weedy and unproductive. Sometimes it flourishes with beautiful fruit from the seeds the Gardener has planted. Sometimes the soil is rich and well-watered. Other times it is dry and rocky, weeds love this soil and flourish there, tough and stubborn. The good thing is that it is a work in progress. God never gives up. Just as the Garden of Eden will one day be restored to its full beauty, I will also see my heart fully flourishing and producing fruit for its Creator.