My Father is the gardener: lesson 3: the point of the garden

Maybe this is not news to anyone else in the world except me, but it honestly is something that's only just begun to dawn on me:

Gardens aren't just about work. They're about enjoyment.

I tend to think of things in terms of whether they are useful. So I tend to think of the 'use' of my garden as being a fun and safe place for my children to play.

I've tended to think of gardening as another 'to do' on an already long list of things I ought to be doing but am not.  For me the point of gardening has been:

So I'm not too ashamed of the disgraceful state it's in when people come round.

Well, how about I stop looking at the mess, overgrown and untidy weeds and stop and look at the beauty that is there in spite of my neglect?  How about I enjoy the roses and the lavender and the poppies and give praise to my Creator who made them?

And how about I apply that to my life too?  How about I look at, see and enjoy the good things God has put there? The beauty that is there in spite of my sin and brokenness. And rejoice in the fact that God still wants to spend time in my garden and says he delights in me.

My Father is the gardener: lesson 2 the beauty of the secret garden

'the more you let yourself compete and compare, the more you forget your own calling'
Ann Voskamp

When I read blogs of women with 6 children (why is it always 6?!) I feel an instant 'failure' in my heart that since I had my second child I've never felt our family has been in a good enough 'place' to cope with adding a third.

I see photos of women's beautiful houses, read of their accomplishments and instead of rejoicing in all that God is doing in and through them, I let it speak negatively to my heart that I've not lived up to their 'standard'.

By dint of the fact that I'm reading their blog, they are a 'successful' blogger/writer and usually a speaker too. Jealousy springs up in my heart.

Then God gave me another 'garden' picture about it.

These big impressive Christians who reach thousands through their words/art/lives: they are like the gardens that you can visit at stately homes. Thousands of people wander through and enjoy and admire the beauty.

Then you come to think of the straggly plot at home. Oh dear. No one is going to come to admire the beauty there.

But then I heard God whisper, "But I delight in visiting my secret gardens too".  There is a beauty and specialness of a private garden that a public garden cannot offer.  A more hidden life is like this - not so impressive to others maybe has it's own unique beauty.

God doesn't want all his gardens to be the same.  He does want his gardens to be places where He is welcome and where we let him be the gardener.  And when we finally stop rushing around trying to impress and live up to a million standards that we were never meant to reach, we can let him show us the unique and special garden he wants to make of our lives. And the result will be beautiful.

My Father is the Gardener Lesson 1

I laugh at the thought of writing about gardening because I am the worst gardener. However God has recently been showing me a number of different things about how he works in my life through the metaphor of my heart as a garden that I feel are meant for sharing here.

So here is my first 'gardening lesson'! :-)

Lesson 1: A process of gentle unfurling

I want gardening to be like on those TV programmes where they send the mum away for the weekend, rip out the old garden with a JCB, stick a brand new one in and she comes home and cries with surprise and delight at the transformation.

About one or two days a year I attack our garden ruthlessly, pulling up anything I suspect of being a weed (i.e. 90% of the contents of our flowerbeds). The next morning it looks kind of bare but (comparatively speaking) amazing.  But of course it doesn't last because the enthusiastic weeds just spring straight back up again.

Similarly, I want God to 'zap' my heart in a 24 hour makeover. Just take a digger, remove wholesale all the junk. Bring in a whole new set up. Then I want to be 'sorted' and to joyfully and without struggle perfectly serve the Lord for the rest of my life. I guess in garden terms that would be producing different beautiful colourful flowers in each new season, no weeds, no maintenance required.

But gardens don't work like that. They are an ongoing process.  They are a slow, gentle unfurling and unfolding. They cannot be rushed.  A garden is never 'finished' because each day, little by little it is growing and changing. New flowers open up, new shoots appear and new weeds sprout up as well. With each new season there are different tasks (so I'm told!).

A really good gardener just does a little each week, working with nature: trimming at the right time; dead-heading at the right point; considering when a straggly plant needs to be uprooted and something new planted there.

So it is with our lives. Each day we need to yield ourselves to the Master Gardener. Let Him have his way in our lives.  Sometimes that means something that is good becomes too 'big' in our lives and needs cutting back. Sometimes, something beautiful that once flowered in our lives, has had its season and we need to submit to him removing it because only then is there space in our garden for the new thing He wants to plant.

And so Father, I submit to You as my Gardener. Help me be patient with you and with myself as I let you gently work on the ever-changing landscape of my garden-heart. Help me be content not to be 'finished'. Plant what you will. Uproot what you will. I think I want an instant makeover but I know your ways are wisest and best. May my garden-heart be a place You love to be, enjoying the beauty you are unfurling there.  Amen

Simple things

What keeps stopping me writing my blog? Pride and selfishness.

I want what I write to be Something. To be Life Changing. To be Mind Blowing. To be Impressive and make me look Very Spiritual.

But the stuff God says to me is very simple. It's not new. It's been said much better by others many times. But. I keep needing to hear these simple things again and again.

And maybe, me writing these Simple Things will just be a reminder to you that God has said these Simple Things to you before as well.  But like me, you forget.

And God in His incomprehensible grace and mercy reminded me patiently again: I love you.

And asked me to write it on my blog so He could remind you again too: I love you.

Yes, even though [put here all the reasons you come up with why you think He shouldn't love you].

So from here on, I commit myself to write Simple Things. Things that have been said before and said better. But things we forget in the all the loud shoutings of life, the world, family, work, media and our thoughts bombarding us every day.

So here I offer my Simple Thing for today:

God says "I love you".   To you.  Yes you.

And He means it.