A Gardener's Delight

I placed my order, arranged for delivery, and sat back and waited until it appeared. And then I looked and admired and dreamed, imaging the fragrant colorful results of what I wanted it to accomplish and then hovering around as I waited for the inspiration to make it happen.

Who but a gardener is thrilled with a dump truck delivery of dirt?

A gardener’s delight, dirt thrills and excites, blossoming dreams in my soul of a rainbow bed of pink Belinda’s Dream roses and purple zinnias and orange cosmos and scented rosemary.

 I admired the rich smell and darkness of the dirt, filled with decomposed organic material like leaves and twigs and other things I didn’t want to think about. To gardeners, compost is gold in the ground, improving plant growth and health.

And for a short while, it was enough to look at it and dream.

And then I had to pick up the shovel.

Some years ago, a friend of mine was in a horrible car crash, and she saw a brilliant light beckoning to her from behind a door, and she thought, “This is it.” But then she woke up. Later, she looked up all the scriptures she could find about the LORD. And there it was: “I am the door.” God’s revelation to her.

And she never forgot, and one day she built a church on her land with the verse inscribed above the door. I can only imagine what that verse means to her as that experience was deeply personal, and it’s her story to tell.

Just as Jesus identified himself to her as the door, God reveals himself to me as the gardener. When I’m outside in my homemade cottage garden, I hear his voice as loudly as my buddy saw him in that crash.  

And as I’ve been shoveling my way each day through that 4 yards of dirt in my backyard, I’ve been reminded of how hard God is working in my life. He’s not idly sitting by and watching, but he’s actively standing by me and helping. And just as I’m excited about the possibility of the beautiful flowers that will soon come, I hope He’s delighted in what blossoms in me each day as he continues to work in my life, enriching it and preparing it and molding me more and more each day into the image of his precious Son.

^" I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”

(John 10:9 KJV).

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”

(John 15:1 NIV).