The Master Gardener

...for you are God's workmanship, the field he has planted (I Cor. 3:9)

One reason I bought the home in Mississippi was the beautiful landscape, which had been lovingly designed, planted, and cared for so many years.  After Katrina, however, multiple trees were uprooted, the native ferns underneath disappeared, great hollows were left in the ground, and in the two years before I could get to the garden, weeds higher than my head grew up.  The once-beautiful yard was a tangled mess, with snakes and mice beginning to use the weeds as habitat.  I looked with discouragement on what seemed an impossible and costly challenge to repair.  However, the yard was mine, and I needed to begin somewhere. 

I selected one spot near the fence and began clearing weeds whose roots had grown as strong as tree roots.  A shovel was practically useless; I needed an axe to attack the weeds which had reclaimed their native territory.  As I finally manged to clear a thirty-foot bed close to the fence, I began to think of the cost of re-planting the entire property and once again grew discouraged.  At that point, a neighbor appeared with four huge African Iris plants that she had taken out of her yard.  They could not have been more perfect to fill in the newly-cleared spot along the fence.  They immediately gave me one beautiful vista in a messy yard and lifted my spirits, providing encouragement to tackle the next area.

When Paul tells us that we are God's workmanship, the field He has planted, I think of the discouragement God must feel as He sees the wreckage we bring to His once-beautiful work.   He must weep as He views strongly-rooted weeds, snakes, and mice taking over His property.  In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that he and Apollos are "God's fellow-workers;"  one plants, and the other waters, but it is God who makes things grow. 

First, with His own Son, He had to buy back / redeem the field that had been ravaged by sin and was being destroyed by the Prince of this World.  Then, through the work of the Holy Spirit, He set to work rooting out weeds and restoring the garden to the order and harmony of His original design.  Now, He watches carefully, through His Spirit, for anything that threatens to harm or destroy His work.  And, at just the right moment, He sends workers into the field, like the neighbor who suddenly appeared with the perfect plants, offering them without cost to me. 

Each morning now, I stroll through the garden I have planted from scratch.  I look at each plant to see whether it looks healthy and happy, or whether it needs attention.  If it droops, I give water; if it needs more sun, I move it; if it is being choked by weeds, I give it space and then add mulch to protect it.  I know each plant by name and characteristics.  I selected each one for the spot it occupies, for my own purposes---and I love the individual and distinct beauty that each one offers.  I mourn each one I fail to save and delight in the health of those that prosper.  Can God, the Master Gardener, do less?