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)
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Thanks for reading. Your comments are always encouraging. Also, progress is being made on my book " Failure: Master or Teacher? "
Thanks again,
Rick Hepler
