This is the time of year I normally set aside to accomplish the task of cleaning up the back deck from all the ravages of winter. The task took a bit longer than usual this year, partly because I’m not in the best of health right now and also because it was such a savage winter. The warmth of the (not too hot) sun felt so very good against my skin. The very last task in getting the gardens ready for planting was to remove the dead growth from the pots and break up the dirt in them which had hardened over the brutal winter months.
As I looked down into the garden pots it occurred to me that just as I am preparing these pots to receive “new seed” that God does the very same thing in our lives. There is a life cycle to each and every seed God has created. Isn’t it amazing that a seed is planted into the earth, we water it, and by and by a new plant emerges? Even more wonderful is that every plant in some way reproduces itself. Some plants produce grasses, trees and flowers, and others produce food which keeps us well nourished and alive. Further, ALL seeds grow into plants which in some way reproduce themselves!
I am also reminded today of the parable of the sower … (embedded below)
So as I prepare the soil of my garden, I am reminded that God is interested in the state of the soil of my heart.
- Has it been ravaged by a brutal set of circumstances?
- Am I ignoring or putting off the task of “renewing” the soil of my heart?
- Do I somehow think that the task of preparing the soil will happen all by itself? By no means!
I see in the parable of the soil an important life principle. Soil does not stay fresh and new. Soil needs not only to be replenished now and again, but it needs tending. If any seed is to take root, grow and reproduce, the gardener must be consistently active AND vigilant. The gardener must be committed to the task of bringing about the completion of what he began. Would I do all the hard and time consuming work of preparing the ravaged soil of my garden, plant, water and nurture my seeds only to abandon my garden? I hope not. BUT … what if through no fault of my own I had to forego tending to my garden. What would necessitate vacating this effort? Well it might be things like: A crisis, perhaps an unexpected death in the family, sudden long term illness, or anything which affected my ability to be a caretaker of that which was so important to me.
Last fall, and this spring my task of cleaning and tending to the soils of my garden was extra time-consuming because of an illness I have been grappling with for the last 1.5 years. I usually put my garden (and back deck) to sleep in late October, but this past October I was in no shape to do that. The necessity of rest took priority position in my life. My garden would have to “fend for itself”. As Autumn turned to Winter I would look out my window at the state of my little deck {garden} and give a quiet sigh and breathe a silent prayer to feel well enough to restore my little garden space come spring. With each snow (and there were many in the winter of 2013) I would see things becoming more and more battered by the natural storms of winter.
And so yesterday, as I slowly began the task (and hard work) of restoring everything so that I could plant again, I recalled the “parable of the sower” [below]. While removing the evidence of the harsh winter, cleaning and restoring the pots [and my deck] to it’s former tidy state, I see that God is doing the same in my heart. God sees my heart which has been through a savage storm that has wreaked havoc on my life and my health. BUT … God has been faithful to remind me of that wonderful verse from Ecclesiastes 3 – To every thing there is a season , and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; …
Is there something happening in your life that is preventing you from tilling the soil of your heart? Could it be that God is gently drawing you to pay attention to your heart once again. God is the ultimate vinedresser . He cares so much for us that while he sometimes allows trials and pain in the garden of our heart, he always has our ultimate good in mind. That reality is the subject of another post.
I pray that this season is my (and your) “time to heal”, but if not, I will rest in the knowledge that in the same way I was concerned with the state of my little deck garden, God is concerned with the garden and soil of my heart and he WILL undertake to maintain its health and restore it to a place of productivity once again.
HE IS FAITHFUL! He’s been faithful, faithful to me.
Matthew 13
King James Version (KJV)
13 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
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http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bhavergal.html
Angela Fish Chan 
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