Tag: gardening

“Befriend” faithfulness???

photo credit: Roxhill Media

Have you ever read something so many times that you fail to actually SEE what is written?! That happened to me this morning as I was reading in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible.

When I was a sophomore at university, new to the Christian faith, my friend Cheryl encouraged me to read five Psalms and one Proverb each day. That meant I would read both books once a month, a practice that I maintained for decades. It was the foundation of my “Quiet Time,” a daily time set aside for Bible reading and study, prayer, and sometimes journaling. (Yes, the writing bug bit me a LONG time ago!)

So this morning, as I read Psalm 37, something jumped out that I had never seen before.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and
BEFRIEND faithfulness.
or
… CULTIVATE faithfulness.

Psalm 37: 3 (ESV, NASB)

BEFRIEND faithfulness. CULTIVATE faithfulness.

I usually associate BEFRIENDING with people. And so I asked myself how I would go about doing that:

  • Take the initiative in getting to know others, which often means going where they are — finding where they hang out, what their interests are.
  • Come alongside them to share their burdens, their victories and defeats, their joys and sorrows.
  • Listen well to “hear” their hearts.
  • Be willing to invest time, effort in others.

I also asked myself what CULTIVATING looks like. I grew up in the countryside. My dad always planted a large vegetable garden so that we would have fresh corn, tomatoes, green beans, and peas all summer long. But to harvest the crops took a LOT of work:

  • The soil first needed to be cleaned up: cornstalks and other vines removed.
  • Then the soil was “tilled,” broken up after having lain dormant since the previous growing season. This step was crucial to improve aeration of the soil as well as enhancing water infiltration.
  • Only then was it possible to begin planting seeds for the new crops.
  • Then they needed to be watered, weeded.
  • Sunshine helped with their growth, but we had to be ever vigilant of “critters” that may have viewed our potential harvest as THEIR feeding ground!
  • After waiting — letting nature take its course — we reaped the bounty of our efforts!

BEFRIEND faithfulness. CULTIVATE faithfulness.

So… how do befriending and cultivating apply to faithfulness???

Faithfulness is a quality grounded in the character of God. His very nature is to be faithful: dependable, loyal, constant, true, unswerving, trustworthy.

If I, then, am encouraged to befriend, to cultivate faithfulness I need to:

  • Take the initiative, be intentional in focusing my attention on God and others who are faithful.
  • Come alongside and embrace that which is true, faithful. That which reflects and represents what God is like.
  • The above happen by hanging out with other like-minded followers of Christ; by choosing what I allow my mind to “feed” on, be it the books I read, the TV shows I watch, the social media I interact with, the conversations I engage in.
  • Realize that there is a “cost” involved… and often the “cost” is time.
  • If I’m going to harvest a good crop of faithfulness I also need to be ruthless in preparing the soil of my heart, my mind. I need to break up any stubborn clods of soil that are hindering God and His Word from penetrating my heart.
  • I also need to get rid of weeds — regularly! Get rid of those things that entangle my thoughts, sap my energy, stunt my growth. And just as weeding the garden isn’t a one-time deal, neither is “weeding” the gunk in my life that needs to be dealt with.
  • Faithfulness grows as it’s watered, fed, nurtured. It happens progressively — not all at once. It takes time. The water and food that grow my faith are God and His Word. No-brainer, right?!? And yet sometimes, I want the finished crop without embracing the process.

Befriend faithfulness. Cultivate faithfulness. May we encourage one another in this life-long process, and together have joy in the journey of this thing called “Life!”

Confessions of a gardener wannabe…

photo credit: author

My grandmother had it. So did my dad. And my sister. But me… well, it seems the “green thumb” gene skipped me.

A “green thumb” means you have an ability to make plants grow. A talent for gardening. It’s not that I haven’t tried over the years. Even as a university student, my interior design project included a room filled with hanging plants and lush, flowering plants. My soul is nurtured by the beauty of growing things: plants, flowers, basically anything green. And yet, as the above picture from our balcony attests, my good intentions have been rather futile. I often joke that anything that manages to grow/survive does so in spite of me… not because of me!

That poor plant. It once was thriving, covered with green leaves. Then the leaves started falling off until the plant was mere sticks — like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! Undeterred, I kept watering it. Hoping against hope that someday growth would occur.

And it did! Slowly — ever so slowly — leaves started reappearing. But alas, we went out of town for several days and the hot summer sun claimed another victim. Without regular watering, there wasn’t the nourishment the plant needed to survive.

My plant died from neglect: no water, too much sunshine. A lack of being cared for. Looked after. Ugh.

Hmm… makes me think of some parallels to my spiritual life.

The Bible uses the imagery of God being a gardener in a vineyard (the vinedresser) and Jesus the vine. Sometimes the gardener needs to prune some branches to enable the vine to be healthy and to thrive. In fact, if you’ve ever seen a vineyard after it has been pruned, you’d think the vines, with their butchered branches, would never produce fruit again! And yet slowly, in due season, new growth appears. Healthy growth. Abundant growth.

We are the branches. We’re what gets whacked off, so to speak. And believe me, sometimes the process is painful! There are attitudes and habit patterns that need to be dealt with. And other “stuff” that hinders our ability to rightly reflect God to the world in which we live. “Stuff” that simply needs to go!

In addition, in order to continue growing healthily we “branches” need to be nourished. To be fed. To be watered. To get an adequate amount of sunshine. That’s why it’s important to be intentional in reading and studying God’s Word. That’s our food. Our nourishment. It’s how we continue to recognize when we need an attitude adjustment or need to deal with a relationship issue. It’s how we see life from God’s perspective instead of ours. It’s what shows us wrong thinking… and how to replace it with truth.

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament, chapter 1

If I want to bear fruit, never wither, prosper in all I do then I need to do some serious gardening in my own life. I may not have a “green thumb,” but I can take advantage of the resources available to me to have a healthy garden. How about joining me? And together, we can have joy in the journey of this thing called “Life!”

You can read about God the gardener, Jesus the vine, and we the branches in the New Testament book of John, chapter 15.