Tending the Garden

The results from tending a garden are rewarding. When your kitchen is filled with the smells of pear butter simmering and fresh chopped basil you tend to forget the whole afternoon spent sweating as you planted seeds and gathered produce. The amazingly beautiful flowers I have enjoyed this summer are delightful. Back in February my sweet hubby brought me a catalog and told me my Valentine’s Day gift would be ordering the dahlia bulbs I wanted. It was tempting to think to myself, “really you just forgot”. I know him better than that though. He knows me and he knows how much I love fresh flowers so he presented me fresh flowers to enjoy for years to come.

Caregiving is much like tending a garden. There is a LOT of planting, weeding, and just plain old hard work that goes into it. A gardener has to trust God for rain and good weather. A caregiver has to trust God for spiritual rain to refresh and renew them on a daily basis.

When I planted the tiny herb seeds, I admit I knew it was iffy at best that they would thrive. They did and I made huge amounts of pesto last night from the harvest. Lunch today was a smoked gouda grilled cheese sandwich with fresh pesto and tomato. That tiny seed held so much potential that I could not see.

We as people hold so much potential that only God can see. He has placed things inside of us and made each of us in unique ways. We continue to discover just what is placed in us as life passes. Sometimes we are placed in situations that we didn’t even realize we were equipped to handle. Sometimes God uses another person to nudge us in the direction He needs us to be in to be used by Him.

As a caregiver, you find yourself needing everything God has placed in you to survive. Rest assured that you can do so much more than just survive. God can use you to shower love on someone that needs it desperately. You may find this easier if you already had a deep love for them. Some caregivers have to dig deeper to offer that love. They may have to cry out to God for strength to forgive the one they take care of due to past offenses and pain. You have to make a choice. Will I treat them the way I was treated or will I forgive and treat them the way I wanted to be treated?

I encourage you today to make the choice to forgive. Forgiving breaks that hard shell hiding what God has placed inside of you. It allows you to grow and flourish just like the dahlias I now enjoy. You have the same beauty locked inside of you waiting to bloom. When it blooms, others will enjoy being with you.

Those dahlias were bulbs showing no signs of life when they arrived. We worked hard prepping the soil, adding natural fertilizer (thank you rabbits) and watering. Allow God to plow up any hard areas of your heart. Let His word and spirit feed you. Soak it in and wait. The results will come.

In a few months, I will dig those bulbs up again. I will store them and begin the planting process over again in the spring. There will be more bulbs to plant and some to share. The work God does in our lives will be a continuous work. Trust God to help you see the things He has placed in you.

Word for Today

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Song for Today

Prayer for Today (Don’t rush through this. Take time to think about God who is holy and His kingdom, power and glory)

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thins is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever.

Amen