It’s finally starting to feel like spring around here. I was so happy to see a row of pretty tulips blooming in front of our house.
I’ve been helping my neighbor clean up her garden this week.
Candi and Gerry have a huge garden with lots of fun little surprises sprinkled throughout. All through the spring, summer, and fall there are flowers blooming along paths between displays of petrified wood. It is a sight to behold!
Right now, though, it needs a little extra attention. The old growth has to be cleared away to make way for the plants that are already starting to grow even at this early date.
So Candi and I have been gathering up the dead grasses, leaves, and plants and making big piles.
As I moved from bed to bed, I was impressed once again by God’s great eye for detail and design. Each plant that has begun growing is so unique. Each needs to be cared for in different ways. Some need lots of rich soil, while others thrive with just a bit of dirt in the cracks of a rock.
I took some pictures of one of the peony bushes I was cleaning up. At first it just looked sad with the old stems and leaves hanging, dead, over the wire cage around it.
But when I looked in from the top, I could see new shoots sticking up already.
I leaned over and cracked off the dry old stems and pulled them out, tossing them in a pile behind me. A few more swipes to get rid of the old peony leaves and I was left with just the new growth.
With the old, dead stuff removed, the plant has access to the sun and room to grow and thrive.
If only we could think of ourselves like all of those plants. We need to get rid of the old, dead stuff in our lives. We can’t do it ourselves.
I’m sure some plants can and do thrive in spite of barriers, but most of them need a caring gardener to make conditions ideal for their growth.
We have the Holy Spirit to help us get rid of bad habits, negative thoughts, and many sins that can keep our growth stunted.
With all of those things removed, we have even more access to the Son and room to grow and thrive. We’ll see new growth in our lives and we can look forward to what will bloom someday.
“But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.” (Ephesians 4:20-24 The Message)
Do you see any new growth in your life? What do you have to let the Holy Spirit help you get rid of so that you are free to grow and blossom?
Your words are the reason I love to weed. Working in the yard and removing all the dead leaves and growing weeds always draws me into talking to God, confessing sin, and asking Him to uproot the weeds in my heart. Yard work never ceases to amaze me at how holy it is!