Friday May 27 2016  HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

We have an infestation of a very beautiful plant.  It’s beauty was what actually caused the problem in the first place.  At the time I was unaware that it would become a nightmare. 

A few years ago a tall leafy plant grew behind our little red house.  Some bloomed white, others lavender, and the third variety a deep rich purple.  How beautiful they looked in the yard.  When the seed heads were ripe I cut a few flowers and carried them to various areas and shook the seeds from their pods.   When the plants grow the first year they do not bloom.  They put all their energy into the soil creating strong root structures for a better chance of survival.  The next year there was a scattering of blossoms and this year they are profuse.  The blooms are beautiful, but extremely detrimental to the natural habitat of the woods.

What I didn’t realize was that these flowers are not native to our area and are very invasive to the plants that live here.  If left to their own devices this plant called which called “dame’s rocket” will annihilate the natural wild flowers that live in the woods.  Most of the plants are congregated around the perimeter of the yard and in the woods and look so beautiful as they wage their silent, deadly war.  The new growth plants cover the forest floor like a tight knit cap and squeeze out other plants from growing.  Our neighbor John has been helping us get rid of them by blow torching the ground cover.  This method of eradication only works on the first year growth. There are hundreds of them.  Dave is now going around and pulling up by the roots the ones that are blooming.  If we can just get the ones out of the woods that are blooming we can stop their generation of reproducing.  It is a relentless battle.   But, they certainly look beautiful and lovely.

I sometimes think that what is happening in our woods can also take place in our lives.  I have inside me what I refer to as “the garden of my heart”.  It is where I plant seeds of new ideas, its the place where habits are formed, and where I prepare myself for the day.  Often times seeds crop up that shouldn’t have been planted and eventually get out of hand.  It is perhaps where I bury the pains, sorrows, and unforgiveness of my past, as well as ongoing bruises of being hurt by other people.  It is also the place where I go when I desire to be with God. 

I have found over the years that the garden of my heart needs a bit of cultivating and grooming along the way or it gets overgrown and neglected.  I must be careful what I let go to seed, lest desires and thoughts not pleasing to God are left rampant to multiply.  And it is always a bit more work to get my garden under control again than what it takes to just tend it along the way.  My garden is my own secret place, as well as the place I invite God to be. 

Dave is out working in the back “forty” tending to this garden of weeds so that it will not kill and destroy the beauty of the woods.  This morning during my quiet time with the Lord I received a poem in reference to the garden of my heart.  That is what brought to my mind how we must be serious about guarding our hearts from the evils of the world.  Just one seed can cause generations of damage.  How is your garden growing?

 

THE GARDEN OF MY HEART

By Kathleen Martens

May 27, 2016

 

The garden of my heart,

Is it full of weeds?

Do I tend daily

To its pruning and its needs?

 

As I walk in the path

Do I behold God’s glory?

Is my harvest plentiful,

Or through debris must I forage?

 

In the garden of my heart

Are my paths strewn with waste?

Do I refrain from tender care

In my busyness and haste?

 

For just as earth’s flowers grow

With cultivation and tender care,

So with the flowers in my heart

A dose of love I too must share.

 

What I plant is what will grow.

When I give I will receive.

And if I nourish integrity and grace

My harvest will not deceive.

 

When I water and promote

Kindness, beauty and trust,

My coffers will be filled

With righteousness, not lust.

 

And when I share with others

The flowers in full bloom,

God just makes my garden bigger

So my planting will have more room.

 

In the garden of my heart

Is the place I dwell with God,

Where He girds my waist with truth,

Where with peace my feet are shod.

 

For in my heart I am growing

The fruits that are yet to come.

And in the garden of my heart

I become more like God’s Son.

 

Father, thank You for Your glory that grows round about.

Thank You Lord for Your Word that teaches me how to prune my inner garden.

Thank You Lord for teaching me how to live in each moment and not to be in a hurry.

Thank You Jesus for all the love You shower upon my garden.

Thank You God for continuing education in the subjects of Integrity and Grace.

Thank You too that Your righteousness shines like sunshine on all I grow in my garden.

Thank You for allowing me to share what You have taught me during our garden time.

And Lord, I pray that my garden will continually be a place for Your Spirit to dwell.  I am so blessed that You are continually nurturing me, removing the weeds and waste, and providing me with your living water so that I can become more like You.

 

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.