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).

It's Good to get Caught

I ran that stop sign every morning on the way to work. Daily. For the past 23 years.

I didn’t zoom through it, but eased on by with a quick glance for traffic and then a merge into it. A slow-go instead of a stop-the-wheels.

I treated the red stop sign as a yellow yield sign.

For 23 years.

And then I retired.

And then one day, I yielded at the stop sign, waved at the policeman watching, and ran it once again. Just like I had always done.

The lights flashed, the siren squawked, and I got a warning ticket.

Oops.

I hadn’t even thought about it I had done it for so long.

Sometimes we need to get caught.

"Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice"

(James 1:22 Good News Version).

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves"

(James 1:22 King James Version).

World War Z

Before World War Z opened in the theaters, I ignored the jokes about another zombie movie, considering them yet another way to work zombies into conversational chatter.  I assumed World War Z was going to be an apocalyptic movie about the final war on earth. After all, the letter Z is the last letter in the alphabet.

Last year, one of the most intelligent AP English students in my class asked me to give him a poem about zombies to analyze, promising to write a fabulous essay if I did. And I complied. Poems about zombies aren’t that hard to find today.

But when we went to the movies last week to watch World War Z, I was surprised to see it was actually a movie about zombies, and when they started attacking people all over the earth, I laughed. Not at them, but at me. For hearing, but not listening.  

God, however, can use anything to speak to us if we’ll listen, even if it’s a movie about zombies!

In my case, I started thinking about the times people tell me something, but I don’t actually treat what they have to say as truth; instead, I shrug it off as idle chatter, listening in a zombie-like trance, nodding in agreement while looking them straight in the eye as my mind wanders to a thousand different places -- waiting for a report on a biopsy or wondering if I sent my husband to work with enough lunch or even wishing it was last summer and I was back in South Africa on safari!

Superficial, trance-like, zombified listening.

It’s hard to “spur one another on toward love” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV), if I’m not really listening to the words that are said.    

I need to do it better.

New Treasures in Old Trash

“…and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure…”

Proverbs 2:4 NIV

The barn spilled its contents, and my husband’s life spilled at his feet. His tricycle, his sister’s bike, his grandmother’s dinner plates, his uncle and aunt’s books, his dad’s hard work….

And as that barn came tumbling down, there was no victory shout, only emotional moans for what he knew was to come:  the end of the junk (my words) stored in the barns, remnants of a life lived well, but now more trash than treasure.

Over 30 years ago, Ian and his dad built the barn to house the contents of the 1907 family home we were having redone, the home where we still live. But the barn crumbled, leaning into the neighbor’s yard, and it was time.

So each day in the evening, we would meander through the maze of memories where many objects told stories that caused Ian to shake his head, smile alot, cry a little, and sometimes jump with excitement. And then he would go back inside. It wasn’t the time. He couldn’t face tossing any of it away just yet.

 

My husband doesn’t write his life on paper like I do, but he inscribes it on his heart. He wasn’t storing up treasures on earth for the moths had definitely come. But he was storing up memories that were awakened and refreshed and enjoyed simply because of the objects around him.

So how were we to separate the trash from the treasure?

 

We found it to be a slow, deliberate, painstaking, and patient process as we looked carefully, searched intently, and discovered new treasures in the old trash each day. 

A worthy endeavor indeed.

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My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair – every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Proverbs 2:1-11 NIV

 

No Fear of Bad News

The 90-year-old waiting to hear that her macular degeneration has grown worse, the young mother waiting to hear whether her child’s hearing is permanently damaged, the widow waiting to hear that her broken pelvis will force her into a nursing facility, the 16-year-old waiting to hear if mononucleosis will keep him from playing football, the man without any family waiting to hear if chemotherapy must start immediately….

Waiting, waiting, and waiting some more for bad news.

People in waiting rooms don’t usually jump up and down for joy because they are expecting good news. Sometimes, yes, but normally? Instead, there’s more anxiety than hope. More pessimism than optimism. There’s fear of being disappointed, fear of pain, fear of the unknown. Waiting rooms are full of fear of bad news. A waiting room is a waiting room is a waiting room.

But God gave us a verse for such a time as this.  

Written by an anonymous author, it’s a scripture for all of us who are known by God. A verse for the husband waiting to hear about his wife’s cancerous tumor or the woman waiting to hear if her mastectomy can be postponed or the man waiting to hear if he’ll ever laugh again or the child waiting to hear whether he can play outside with his friends once more. It’s a verse the psalmist proclaims for all who have faith in God, the giver of that faith.

“He will have no fear of bad news;

“His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD”

(Psalm 112:7 NIV).

“He will have no fear of bad news.”

“He will have no fear of bad news.”

“He will have no fear of bad news.”

Let’s paint that one on the walls of every waiting room we enter!

Better yet, let’s campaign to change the name of that room -- The ROOM OF NO FEAR or THE ROOM FULL OF HOPE or WAITING WITH HOPE or WAITING WITHOUT FEAR or……

In the meantime, I’m inscribing that verse on the walls of my heart and carrying it with me wherever I go.

Bad news is everywhere; the fear of it doesn’t have to be.

Lord,

May my heart be firmly unshaken, filled with trust, confident in your care, and without fear of bad news.

Amen.

“He need not fear a bad report, for his heart is unshaken, since he trusts in the LORD”   (International Standard 2012).

“They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them” (New Living 2007).

“He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD” (English Standard 2001).

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD” (KJ Cambridge).