Yesterday we had a much needed rain. Our garden looks much better today. What a difference rain makes. It will be a couple of days before I can get back to my daily routine of chopping out the weeds. I try to chop out the morning glories, grass and other weeds when they first appear. I just came back from the garden and the morning glories are everywhere. You can't turn your back on them for a moment.
Working in the garden each day is a great stress reliever for me. After I am finished, I have a chair in the backyard that I sit in, admiring my work. My son-in-law and father-in-law also help. We can chop out the weeds, fertilize, tie up tomato plants, plant other seeds, but we can't make it grow. Creation is God's part. He created each vegetable from which we get the seeds to plant, provides the earth to plant them in and the sunshine for them to make food and the rain for their watering.
When we do our part, each plant that God has created stands out and makes the whole garden beautiful for everyone to see. God then gets the glory for creating such wonderful vegetables, because people know that nothing in the garden was created by us. Through our daily efforts, the vegetable plants stand out and no weeds are present to drain them of their beauty.
We are the same way. When we believe Jesus is the Son of God, obey His Gospel, and show our love for Him by keeping His commandments, His blood continually cleanses us from our sins. Each day, we can weed out of our minds negative and sinful thoughts. We do this by reading and meditating on God's word. (Read I John 1:5-10.) When we repent and confess our sins, it is kinda like keeping weeds out of the garden.
You know what weeds do to a garden. They choke out the good plants and cause them to produce little or no fruit. People will pass by and say, " that garden is a sore sight." God gets no glory from what he has created .
We are the same way as the garden. Remember, God also created us. When we let our light shine before men that they may see our good works, our Father in heaven will be glorified. People will see God's goodness, mercy and grace through us. (Matthew 5:14-16)
The world is like weeds in a garden ready to sprout in our hearts at any unguarded moment. We must be vigilant about what enters our minds. The fruit of the Spirit should be in all of our actions. (Gal. 5:22) If one falls, those who are spiritual need to come to help restore him in gentleness. (Gal. 6:1)
Remember, we bring glory to our Father in heaven when He reigns in our hearts. The world notices our good works and it is refreshing for them to see God's love through us. But, if sin controls our life we no longer show light but darkness and we distance ourselves from God, influencing others to do the same.
What does your garden look like? Are there any weeds in it? What does the garden of your soul look like? In times past I have lost my garden to weeds and gave up. The garden of our soul can be overtaken by sin. But our heavenly Father will never give up on us. His Son's blood is always ready to cleanse us from our sins if we believe in Him and obey His commandments.
God uses us as his hands and feet to produce beautiful gardens from what He has created. He can also use us to produce beautiful people. (Matt. 28:18-20)
Please send comments to rhepler52@gmail.com or rhepler52@yahoo.com
Thanks for reading. Your comments are always encouraging. Also, progress is being made on my book " Failure: Master or Teacher? "
Thanks again,
Rick Hepler
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Ivory Soap Words
As I was watching TV last night something happened in the show that prompted urgency, and the detective said,"Oh s _ _ _!". This was around 8:30 PM on a regular cable channel. This brought back a memory of this word from 56 years ago when I was 4 years old.
I can't remember what I did last week, but I can remember that night very vividly. It had to have been a Saturday night because we were having hamburgers. Mother would go to the grocery on Saturday and she would always fix hamburgers on Saturday night. Also, mother and dad would give me a bath in the kitchen sink every Saturday night, getting me clean for church on Sunday.
Well, they told me to get my clothes off. I ran under the kitchen table and I let it out. Not once, but three times. "s _ _ _, s _ _ _, s _ _ _!". I do not know where I had heard that word or why I even wanted to say it, but mother looked like she had six arms trying to get me out from under the table.
The next thing I knew was a big bar of Ivory soap being wallered around in my mouth.They said, "don't you ever say that word again" and they tried to wash my transgression out of my mouth with that white bar of Ivory soap.
That night, not only was I clean from my bath, my language was cleaned up for the first time. No, I don't cuss today, but it is not because of my Ivory cleansing, but from another cleansing that has had more of an affect.
Have you noticed the foul language used in our country today? You can't watch TV without hearing it. I like to watch the "Swamp People" on the History Channel, but they have to bleep almost every other word. The worst foul language, in our country today, is using God's name in vain. Movie after movie usually has some form of using God's name in vain. If someone uses the N word or a word describing some people, they either will be ridiculed in the press or forced to resign from their job. I do not think we should use those words either, but what do we do to people who use God's name in vain? Nothing is ever said about it and the usage is increasing. The media is silent. What are we becoming, when God's name means so little to us? Do you think God will bless this country, when we don't even reverence His name?
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."(Matt. 12:37) (NKJV) This should be more powerful than a bar of Ivory soap.
Think about this. A good way to start getting this country back on track is to reverence the name of the One who created and blessed her. We cannot be successful until this happens.
I need your comments on this. Please send your comments to rhepler52@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for reading my blog. It is good to be back!
Enjoy,
Rick Hepler
I can't remember what I did last week, but I can remember that night very vividly. It had to have been a Saturday night because we were having hamburgers. Mother would go to the grocery on Saturday and she would always fix hamburgers on Saturday night. Also, mother and dad would give me a bath in the kitchen sink every Saturday night, getting me clean for church on Sunday.
Well, they told me to get my clothes off. I ran under the kitchen table and I let it out. Not once, but three times. "s _ _ _, s _ _ _, s _ _ _!". I do not know where I had heard that word or why I even wanted to say it, but mother looked like she had six arms trying to get me out from under the table.
The next thing I knew was a big bar of Ivory soap being wallered around in my mouth.They said, "don't you ever say that word again" and they tried to wash my transgression out of my mouth with that white bar of Ivory soap.
That night, not only was I clean from my bath, my language was cleaned up for the first time. No, I don't cuss today, but it is not because of my Ivory cleansing, but from another cleansing that has had more of an affect.
Have you noticed the foul language used in our country today? You can't watch TV without hearing it. I like to watch the "Swamp People" on the History Channel, but they have to bleep almost every other word. The worst foul language, in our country today, is using God's name in vain. Movie after movie usually has some form of using God's name in vain. If someone uses the N word or a word describing some people, they either will be ridiculed in the press or forced to resign from their job. I do not think we should use those words either, but what do we do to people who use God's name in vain? Nothing is ever said about it and the usage is increasing. The media is silent. What are we becoming, when God's name means so little to us? Do you think God will bless this country, when we don't even reverence His name?
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."(Matt. 12:37) (NKJV) This should be more powerful than a bar of Ivory soap.
Think about this. A good way to start getting this country back on track is to reverence the name of the One who created and blessed her. We cannot be successful until this happens.
I need your comments on this. Please send your comments to rhepler52@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for reading my blog. It is good to be back!
Enjoy,
Rick Hepler
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)