The things God taught me in the garden.

As I was out working in my garden today, my mind was spinning. We have had rain this week, and very humid temperatures. Not only has my garden grown, the weeds have nearly overtaken it. I began at one side of the garden in search of the cucumbers that were very obvious on Sunday afternoon; I could not believe that the weeds were at least a foot high. How is that possible? I have worked out in that for hours on end when I have the time, and it looked great. The rain hit, and the garden is now overrun with weeds.

I was talking to the Lord as I bent over to pull the vines and bushes from around the onions. Lord, could you just make the rainfall on the veggies and not the weeds? Then the scripture about God will make it rain on the just and the unjust came to mind. That started me thinking about weeds, and comparing them to sin.

We all know how easy it is sin. By doing something wrong, or by not doing something right. If we know something is wrong, yet we allow it to slip by, making the excuse that it isn’t all that bad, God won’t disown me if I do that or don’t do that. No, but that sin will come between God and me. It can strangle the good things growing in me and kill it so fast, just as weeds can do in the garden.

As I sit here and type, the old hymn In The Garden comes to mind, and the words to this begin to form:

In My Garden

I come to the garden alone

while the dew is still on the grass;

and the voice I hear falling on my ear

The Son of God exposes.

And I cry to Him and whine to Him

and I tell Him life is unfair.

That the weeds I pull are so quickly grown,

I cannot keep up on my own!

My back and neck are in pain

My behind hurts to bad to sit down

Is this garden too big, for my husband and me

The pain that it makes is profound.

So, He talks to me and He walks with me

But never lifts a hand to help

Then He speaks these words

And I hear them too

that weeds are like sin in a man.

My child these are so much like sin,

The bad grow faster than good.

The veggies you plant, taste so good in your mouth,

but weeds are still a part.

And He speaks to me

and I hear the words

I’m beginning to understand.

That in life we have so many weeds

We must choose to pull from their roots.

Again it speaks to my heart

That these weeds are so much like sin

That the good in us, which is Jesus Christ

Can be covered by weeds like our sin!

Lord give me the strength to go on,

to walk boldly out to my garden

Knowing that my work is cut out for me,

Let’s hoe this row of sinfulness.

I will pull up the roots of bitterness

and dig up the vines of despair

I will reap the fruits of a victory

that come from my garden out there!

So, besides getting part of my garden weeded, I allowed God to speak to my heart. I thought I would share it with you. Maybe it will speak to someone besides me...I hope! I know some of it may a little silly, but it is truthful.