February 16th of this year I set out to turn one very unused portion of my yard into a dinner garden. It took a lot more effort than I remember from my childhood to actually get the soil ready for the planting.
The word "Prepared" is a very interesting one.
In English it is defined as this:
Pronunciation: \pri-ˈper\
Function: verb; transitive verb
1 a : to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity <prepare for dinner>
3 a : to put together : compound
intransitive verb
: to get ready
pre·par·er (noun)
I guess I would the the "Preparer" if one was to define my role in the starting stages of the garden. I had to make sure the soil was right. I had to make sure it was warm enough and fertilized enough. It was up to me to get that ding-a-dang dirt ready for seeds.
By April we had some pretty good growth going on.
Now...we are seeing some serious mass amounts of vines and growth all over the place.
Notice my neighbor's rooftop in conjunction with the height of the tomatoes? Yes...they are doing well.
Now it comes to this. In life we all face things that we feel very ill-prepared to deal with. Everyone will face change. If the dirt was the fabric of your heart, how would the Lord prepare it? When God is taking your unused soil and preparing it for something marvelously stunning, unbeknown to us may be His final plan. It is easy to have no trust or confidence in what is going on. If I wasn't human, I could say I've never questioned the value of trying my Faith...not realizing that the Father of my Soul has a better overall view of the garden. He knows what the soil of my heart needs. He's ever working it. Ever changing it. Ever planting new things I may have need of growing.
Having recently removed some large plants from my garden to replace them with different seedlings, I faced again another parallel between the soil of the ground and soil of my heart.
Sometimes the things that I hold on to are the very things keeping my heart from becoming as strong and beautiful as it needs to be. Releasing the fear, anger, doubt, envy, and pain has given room for plants of exquisite, glorious, resplendent beauty. The things of God that are, sublime, flawless, perfect, and radiant. These are the things my heart has been prepared to nurture. How is it prepared? It is by trials and challenges. It is by things that dig into my gut. The drenching of rain and the forces of wind shape my heart. The seeds of Faith can only grow when warmed by the Spirit and fed by the Light of Truth and bathed in living waters. Only then will I become what I should become. Only then, when I allow the gardener to plan the layout of the soil, will I become something useful and life giving to others.
That is the purpose of life. To live in such a way that others may see the light of Love reflected in our hearts and shining through our eyes. This is an amazing gift. It's something I strive for everyday. I sincerely hope "that others seeing me may seek the greater light Divine. Then when that blessed day is here, he'll love me and he'll say, You've served me well my little child...come into my arms to stay." (I wonder, when he comes again )
2 comments:
:)
Perfectly composed message of beauty and truth. Thank you, Stephanie.
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