Kicked out of the Garden

I’ve been kicked out of my garden. The roses have just finished their first big bloom of the season, the snapdragons are ready to pop open and the birds are welcoming the day with some loud hallelujahs.  I would like nothing more than to take the floral tour of my own garden to see how things are doing. There may be aphids waiting to be eliminated. There may be flowers to dead-head. There is certainly a wicker chair waiting for me, my book and a glass of iced tea. 

It is not to be.  There is evil afoot in my garden. The large, awful, ugly tree with the treacherous little white “flowers” is blooming in full splendor.  Along with its splendor comes my misery. Watery eyes, runny nose and itchy face accompany the blooming of the tree. How can something that seems so harmless chase me away from the garden? How can it separate me from the thing that I love?

 

Each of us has something that we harbor within us that chases us away from spending time in the garden.  My secret sins, my lack of discipline, my laziness chase me out of the garden. Seemingly harmless things build up until I barely realize that I am harboring such sins in my heart. These things separate me from the One I love.

As a child of the Master Gardener I am loved, forgiven, and always welcomed, but I am still able to stray from the garden. How easy it is to glance over the fence without entering. So often I say “later” to the garden and the Master Gardener. I can choose to not pull up the wicker chair and sit for a while. I can choose not to tend to my emotions and responsibilities. I can choose to not tend to the spiritual disciplines that will cause me to want to spend time with the Master Gardner.

I hope you are finding time to be in the garden. If not, what is keeping you away?  What are you allowing to come between you and the One who loves you?  Allow yourself to sink deeper into relationship with Him. Spend time in the garden. The Master Gardner is there, tending the garden, waiting for you to pull up the wicker chair and sit a while with Him.

 

Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”