My Little Garden

I have a little garden in front of my house.  Over the years I have added a few things.  I am no gardener.  My Grandma Cramer, now she was a gardener.  When she left her home in her mid 80's, she still had a plant that my father's cubscout troop had given her 50 years ago.  What made her an excellent gardener?  My grandma was one of the most patient people I ever met and frankly, she spent lots of time caring for those plants.  Gardening is hard.  Not only do you have to plant the seeds, but you have to weed, and prune, and feed those plants. You have to get dirty.

I can see two parallels in my own life.  My spiritual life is like a garden.  God ultimately is the gardener, the one who planted the seed of faith and causes it to grow.  He has also made me a steward.  I am to do the hard work as a tender of my own little patch.  I have to go in and root out, with the Lord's help, those sins that would so easily choke out my garden.  I have to be fed by His Word and that means actually spending time each day with the Lord.

My little man is also a garden that I am to tend as a parent.  I have to give him good food from God's Word and help to guide and grow him into a godly young man by training him as well. This is messy work, but so fruitful!

Gardening is hard work, but the rewards are great.  What a blessing that God allows us to participate in displaying His beauty to the world!