Category: The Garden

What do I do when I have lost my inspiration?  The name of this blog is inspirations from the garden for the body and the soul!   I have been avoiding even looking at this blog.  There hasn’t been too much inspiration probably because of the business of life and when I had time, I would read email, look at the weather, but not open the blog.  Today I mentioned this to a friend and asked for prayer.  This afternoon in the least expected place, digging in the dry, hard ground and not finding a single potato, the inspiration for another  post came!!

It is delightful showing beautiful, green pictures of produce and flowers.  But what do I write about when my late summer garden has been a disappointment.  The tomatoes have been small, the spaghetti squash rotted before ripening, only one hill of pumpkins have any promise and who knows but maybe the stink bugs have been eating holes in them!

The very last verses in the book of Habakkuk state this thought,  “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, even if the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food,  even though the flocks die in the fields and there are no cattle in the barns, Yet will I exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hind’s feet, And makes me walk on my high places.”  

Even if this late season had not produced a single thing, I can still rejoice in my God who is my strength.  In the spring I plant and hope that my vegetables will look like the ones pictured in the seed catalog.  It’s a disappointment when the seeds don’t sprout and the weeds take over eventually.

Seasons in my life start out with great promise and vision.  We can lose the inspiration that we once had.  It takes diligence to keep working, even when the results are not what I expect.  I can trust in God regardless of the circumstances.  Habakkuk wrote that God gave him hind’s feet.  A hind is a sure-footed graceful female red deer who moves with confidence in the high mountains.  When the disappointments of life come, we can climb to the high places where the air is pure and clear and we can be refreshed regardless of the circumstances of life.

 

One of the best times to pull weeds is in the cool of the evening.  In the Garden of Eden, Creator God talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. It is a time when we reflect from the event’s from the day.  I thought about this as I was working in the garden one evening.

I was weeding an area planted with many different varieties of flower seeds and they were competing for space with the weeds.  I had not weeded that row, since it can take up to two weeks for some flower seeds to emerge.  I started  pulling the weeds that were familiar to me and I was careful not to disturb any that looked like a plant.  I was reminded how we need to be careful when caring for others in our lives who are new in their relationship with Jesus.  If I would go into that patch of what looked like weeds and just yank them all out, I may loose the very seedlings I am hoping to see mature into beautiful flowers.

You might recognize the connection I was making with the patch of what looked like mostly weeds and looking at someone’s life and thinking about the many negative characteristics visible in a person. It takes time to help someone gently pull out the unfruitful habits.  We can help them recognize and identify the intrusive weeds; praying for our weaker brothers and sisters, leading them in repenting and receiving the forgiveness of Jesus.  It is often helpful to have a mature and experienced gardener work on that patch of weeds with us.  If we are alone we can grow discouraged.

Sometimes the weeds are growing obnoxiously out of control right in front of me. The entrance to the walk was one such area.  I kept ignoring them thinking I would get my gloves and pull them without getting my hands dirty.

But this morning, I had enough!  Even though I was expecting guests within an hour, I started in on those weeds with a vengence.  I didn’t care that my nails were getting dirty because the job was getting done!  As I was pulling and yanking, my thought was, “When there are glaring habits that can no longer be ignored, we need to get rid of them in our own lives!”  Complaining, impatience, selfishness, just to name a few, grow increasingly obnoxious until there is nothing to do but decide that enough is enough.  There are sins that so easily beset us here in this life but as we recognize and identify them we can eliminate them by repenting and receiving the forgiveness of Jesus.  Weeds never stop growing but there are ways to decrease their appearance!  Sounds like a future post!

Out with the old, in with the new!  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  But the fruit of the Spirirt is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, and self control.  Galations 5:22-25