Who Tends Your Garden?

I invite people into my cyber garden … but dare I confess that I don’t actually garden in real life? In fact, I have a very brown thumb, so brown that it’s black. And my neighbors can testify.

Can I blame my lack of gardening skill on my upbringing?

Where I was raised, everything in our yard grew wild. That wild growth complemented the gravel driveway, complete with a hitching post for the horses. I remember my mom and sister trying to plant petunias in front, but the picket-pin ground squirrels ate them—the flowers, that is. One year, my dad armed me with a bee-bee gun to extinguish the pesky rodents, but I won’t go into that.

In the photo below, the hitching post is in front of the tree on the left. These elk and horses mowed our “lawn.” No gardener could compete with this natural beauty.

God’s not worried

Do you fail at gardening, too? I’m here to tell you that’s okay. Where we lack in planting and pruning, growing things is God’s passion.

A true gardener never ceases to garden. Is it a coincidence that the God who created the Garden for the first Adam is the same God (the last Adam) that Mary Magdalene mistook for a gardener.

(While at the tomb after Jesus’s death)
Then Mary turned around to leave, and there was Jesus standing in front of her, but she didn’t realize that it was him!

He said to her, “Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary answered, thinking he was only the gardener, “Sir, if you have taken his body somewhere else, tell me, and I will go and —”

“Mary,” Jesus interrupted her.

Turning to face him, she said, “Rabboni!”

Amazing. So the first thing the Gardener does when He reappears after conquering death and Hades is stop to smell the flowers He’d made?

Inwardly at peace, and personable. Confident and caring, and not in a rush. He’s out of this world, yet down to earth. And, as always, showing interest in someone other than Himself.

None can compare to this Champion Gardener.

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“Who are you looking for?”

In the physical, like me, you might always be on the lookout for the best gardener to maintain your flower beds.

In the spiritual, look no further. You’ve found the best in Jesus, and He (Rabboni) will teach you much about the garden of your heart. He prefers to do the landscaping yet needs you to participate—-an intentional and intimate participation—-for if His seeds land in shallow heart-soil, you won’t develop a deep root system.

The advantage of healthy & hardy roots:

No storm will knock you over.
You won’t be fooled by false doctrines.
You won’t miss the wedding feast, as did the “five virgins who ran out of oil for their lamps.

Bravery required

The best part: giving Him permission to conquer all the ugly weeds and thorns. Worries and anxieties, persecution, the seduction of wealth, and other fleeting pleasures of life. Some are so familiar, you’ve believed they’re flowers. And those you’ve grown fond of will cause discomfort when plucked. Only in uprooting them will you discover your authentic value.

Bravely acknowledge any weeds He shows you and surrender them. He desires to beautify your garden.

Weeds-be-gone!

Water regularly (read your Bible).
Welcome the Pruner.
Fertilize. (He’ll use life’s crap to create your most fruitful field)

Now picture your heart as pure—weedless and immaculate. Picture your life flourishing like an oak tree planted by streams of living water.

Cultivating an intimate relationship with the Gardner is time wisely spent.