Tired? Frustrated? What if, what feels like the last stand (the “if it doesn’t happen this time I’m giving up” moment in life), is in fact, the process that leads to your spring awakening (your new season of bursting forth with life)? Don’t hold back what God is revealing to you. It’s time to embrace the metamorphosis, the awakening, and fruitfulness that you were designed to do.
Where are you in your life? What needs to be awakened in your soul? What needs to fall away from you? What do you need in your life that facilitates your growth? We all face struggles and question our abilities when faced with change, challenge, and crossroads. We overthink and question the tug of the heart, and what-ifs of moving beyond our comfort zone.
God’s plan is never for us to be stagnate. Nor stale in our giftings. In Psalm 92:12-15 we read:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God; They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.’”
DON’T LET FEAR HOLD YOU BACK FROM RIPENING TO THE WILL OF GOD
As a gardener I have had many opportunities to create garden spaces and nurture the soil. As you may know the process can be quite laborsome. Breaking clods of dirt, tilling, pulling weeds, adding nutrients, and watering. Not just once but many times throughout the growing season. Albert Boynton Storms wrote in his book published in 1913, The Master Secret, “This is man’s great spiritual task in life – to grasp the ideal, to gain the heavenly vision, and then to make it imperial in the realm of the real: to transfigure stone and dust by the power of the Spirit, to ‘trouble the clod by a spark’, to find the imprisoned idea in rough blocks of granite and marble, to transform sinful men into Sons of God by faith”.
As gardeners we “trouble the clod” every year to produce beauty and bountiful fresh food. God as well asks us to “trouble the clod” within and tend the garden of our souls. It’s God’s will for us. To do this we must continually rid our hearts and minds of those things [no matter how fearful they may seem] that will chokehold us and try to separate us from God. A garden is only as beautiful as the time spent tending the garden. Our gardens need our attention to fulfill the work of the garden, which is to produce fruit. If unattended the chokehold of weeds will set to work.
A GARDEN HELD BACK AND HIDDEN
In 2011 my husband and I rented a house that once had been owned by a master gardener. We were told that this home had once been featured in a well-known home and garden magazine that showcased its beautiful gardens that surrounded the home. However, when we moved and arrived the yard was overgrown – its gardens could not be seen. Since my husband and I enjoy working outside, the overgrown mess intrigued us. Slowly and surly we began to uncover a little garden of Eden. We found an Azalea path that led to a beautiful river that fed into the Mobjack Bay. There were exotic trees from around the world, beautiful bulbed gardens, and even a cacti oasis.
WHEN THE GARDENER KNOCKS
I guess the neighbors began to talk about the work we were doing, and word got back to the original owner of the home. One day that master gardener knocked on our door holding a large photo album. After a few pleasantries we invited him into the house, and he led us through his planned gardens through his stories and pictures. It was quite amazing to see his pristine garden through his eyes.
My husband and I realized at that moment that all our hard work had just begun to scratch the surface in resurrecting the master’s garden. However, we would have never known the breadth of the gardens if we had not responded to the knock on our door. You see my husband and I were deep into a Saturday of house cleaning and rearranging furniture. When I looked out the peep window and saw an older gentleman, that I did not know standing there, it caused me pause, and I almost didn’t answer the door. Thankfully, we opened the door to discover the depth and richness of what our gardens could be, and we received a glimpse of the fullness of God’s restorative power.
When the gardener knocks at your door – Answer. Don’t hold back in moving forward. Say “yes” to a new experience, learning something new, befriending a neighbor, seeking forgiveness, and forgiving others. Don’t hold back God’s restorative power, and the possibility that your garden and garden knowledge can provide restoration to others. In this season, give space to the transformative power of the “Master Gardener” and don’t hold back the vision that God has for your life and garden.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU DON’T HOLD BACK
