Saturday, 06 June 2009
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The Garden
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (Is. 58:11b)
We recently cleaned out our raised garden and replanted it. Even though it was a very small bed (only 8'x8'), believe me, it was a real chore. It had lain fallow for 10-12 years, which means that not only was it packed with grass and weeds, but the top few inches of the soil was also filled with seeds from those plants. So we dug out the top 8 inches of soil and had topsoil delivered to refill it. We knew that the dump truck load we were receiving would be more than we needed, so we asked our next door neighbors if they could use any, and they said they could use 1/4-1/3 of a load.
Unfortunately, the person who sold us the topsoil was very generous and brought an even larger load than we expected. He dumped the topsoil right in the middle of our bed and we had a 6' mountain right in the middle of our garden, spilling over on all sides of it. Since I needed to get part of our garden planted right away, Jim started shoveling soil off onto a tarp. Somewhere in the middle of his shoveling, he had a great idea: Add another 8'x8' section onto our current garden. If he bolted the new section right onto our old bed, he would only have to add 3 sides and it would be easier to then just shovel dirt into the new one.
Jim spent another weekend adding and filling the new section, but we still had almost 1/3 of the load of topsoil left sitting on a tarp. The neighbors who said they could use some hardly made a dent in that pile (I don't think they realized how large a load of topsoil really was). So, we became the "friendly neighborhood top soil distributor" for a week or so, and all our neighbors who could use a little topsoil stopped by to get some. And almost everything is planted -- in fact, I think I overestimated what I could plant in that still-small garden.
Then, when I was in prayer recently one morning and our garden was the furthest thing from my mind at that moment, the Lord spoke to me that our garden was a good analogy for my spiritual life for the past 10-12 years:- During the years when I was working 50-60 hrs. a week, still healing from a spiritually abusive church we had left, and dealing with serious problems in our family, I had allowed my spiritual walk to -- in a sense -- grow fallow. I was very, very weary physically, emotionally, and spiritually; and I was afraid to trust or become involved again. Like Peter in John 6:68-69, I clung to the fact that there is no where else to go besides Jesus and that He alone has the words of eternal life, but I withdrew from almost everything and just kind of hibernated while metaphorically licking my wounds. I didn't realize it, but "weed seeds" had begun to take root and to grow in my life.
- But the Lord didn't let my life continue to lie fallow. He knew that with some work, my life could be a fruitful garden. He began digging up the top weed-filled layer, then He brought in His fresh soil -- much more than I needed for the tiny little plot of my heart, and He dumped that soil until it overflowed. Then He expanded my heart and life to receive that overabundance of His blessing and presence, and still there was more than I could handle. So what should I do with it? Become our "friendly neighborhood distributor" of His mercy and love.
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