My Garden - My Soul

This garden, once beautifully -- perfectly -- landscaped by a good designer, was devastated by Katrina.  Salt water infused what was once healthy soil; trees were uprooted so there was no longer any refeshing shade in the garden, ferns disappeared in the brutal sun, and weeds took over the entire area --- so much so that the contracter working on my house was afraid of snakes.

I hardly knew where to begin; it seemed entirely hopeless.  The weeds were higher than my head, with roots stronger than those of trees.  The ground was rutted and uneven; even a lawnmower was useless.  I knew that no matter which area I attacked first, all the other areas would continue running wild, and I was just one person facing a jungle.

My sister and her husband arrived just after I moved in.  The garden had been neglected for 18 months while we were making the house liveable.  But they told me to choose a spot to clear out -- they were there to help.  For a week, the three of us labored together to pick up loads of roofing shingles blown from all the houses between mine and the beach; roofing shingles, boards, curtains, even an electric drill from someone's garage was buried among the overgrown weeds.  Slowly, we cleared a section of land and hauled the debris to the curb.  Then we went to the garden center to find something that would thrive in the poor soil left behind.  By the time my sister left, the "wild and waste" section of my yard had been transformed into a place of rest and beauty, and I had the hope and encouragement I needed to begin work on another area.

Today, five years later, I am still working on my yard, once a hopeless wilderness harboring snakes.  But each morning now, I take my coffee out to assess what still needs to be done.  Now, since I have carefully placed each plant, I know each one by name.  I know whether it needs sun or shade, and I have chosen the conditions in which it can thrive.  I look each day to see whether it is doing well, or needs to be moved to another location, or maybe needs a little pruning or compost.  Today, I am no longer rescuing and establishing my garden; I am enjoying its beauty and marveling at its strength, even while tending to whatever needs attention.  It brings me much joy to see it responding to my touch and thriving under my care. 

And would God be doing less each day for our souls than I am doing for my garden?  Would He not each day be tending to the needs of my soul?  Here is what He says:

Think of Me today as the Great Gardener, tending and caring for you as a gardener does for his garden.  Pruning here, protecting from frost there, planting, transplanting.  Sowing the seed of this or that truth, safeguarding it with the rich earth, sending my rain and sun to help in its growth, watching so tenderly as it responds to my care.  Lovingly anxious when its first eager green appears, Full of joy at the sight of bud, and when the beauty of flower is seen.  The seed and fruit of His pastures.

 

The Great Gardener.  Let Me share with you the tending of your garden of life.