God’s garden This is a devotion I gave at a ladies event at my church:
Consider with me, if you will, a garden. The best gardens are
designed with different types of plants, all serving a purpose within the
overall scheme. I’m no gardener. In fact, it’s a miracle that I can keep
my ONE houseplant alive (maybe that’s because it’s a cactus). My
mother-in-law is the master gardener of our home. She has designed
beautiful gardens all around the yard and tended them for years. She put
hydrangeas in the back where they got a little shade. She put daffodils in the
front where there was always sun. She mixed large bushes in with small flowers
and interspersed hardy greenery throughout. She knew the environment and she
knew the needs and strengths and weaknesses of each plant and she placed them
in the garden accordingly.
Now I want to talk to you today about another garden, a garden in
which you and I are the plants. God, the Master Gardener has chosen each of us according
to his UNIQUE and SPECIFIC plan, with our UNIQUE and SPECIFIC strengths and
weaknesses. AND He has placed us in UNIQUE and SPECIFIC environments tailored
to his overall design of the garden.
We have been learning about Psalm 139 on Sunday mornings. It shows
us how we have all been created differently and designed exactly as God planned
us before the dawn of creation.
Even our weaknesses have been uniquely designed by our Lord. We
always think of the variety of our strengths and our gifts – particularly
within the church. We think of 1 Corinthians 12 - one body, many parts. The hand
cannot tell the eye I don’t need you. We all need each other for our varying
gifts. But we forget that we also need our weaknesses, that our weaknesses have
a part to play in God’s path for our life. We often look at a struggling sister
and desire to just fix it for her. We don't recognize that her struggle is the
one God intended for her, right here, right now.
The late missionary, Jim Elliot said "Where ever you are, be
all there." We all go through different stages and different seasons. We
all had an "ugly phase." For most of us, it was middle school :) But no
I’m not REALLY talking about middle school. Take the tulip, for example. It's
starts off looking like a heart shaped onion - definitely an ugly phase. If
tended properly, it blooms beautiful, richly colored petals and strong green
leaves, surviving harsh and barren winters, coming back to bloom again year
after year.
Our weaknesses, our ugly phases, are signs of God's work in us:
sanctification, the process of making us more like Christ. Our strong wills
require pruning and great care. If we let him, he will make us into something
beautiful.
We struggle through our ugly phases: I want to be seen, I want to be
heard, I want to be valued, I want to be past this, I want what she has. We
forget to be ALL THERE wherever we are, when where we are isn't pretty. And
sometimes the support (or lack thereof) from those around us pushes us to wish
it all away.
We want to be women who remind one another that the Master Gardener
is working. He is pruning. He is shaping. He is letting winter kill off the bad
so spring can bring the good. And just because you're in winter right now and
I'm in summer doesn't mean I can't bear with you (or just plain old BEAR you).
We are called to bear one another's burdens. We want to be a group of
ladies who say, "where ever you are, I'll be all there WITH you and FOR
you."
Maybe we aren't in different seasons but we’re in different parts of
the garden. I'm in all sun and you’re part shade. Shall I scoff and point and
mock your section of the garden, declaring the sunny side best and urge you to
move over here? Or should I trust the Master Gardener in his placement of you
because that is where He knows you need to be.
Ps139:13-16 shows God has uniquely designed you and me AND the
different paths he has placed us on. “For you formed my inward parts; you
knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My
frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your
book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as
yet there was none of them.”
God’s purpose is the same for each of us. His purpose is to conform
us to the image of his Son. He puts each of us on a path to achieve this
purpose that is best designed for the strengths and weaknesses he created
within us. This path for me, includes being a business owner, a working
homeschool mom, a member of Broadalbin Baptist church, wife to Andy, mom to
Luke and Josh, a mom who struggles with her tongue, a wife who struggles to
serve her husband, a woman who struggles to balance work and fun.
Now take my friend Ashlee here. His path for Ashlee includes being a
public school teacher, a wife to Shawn, a daughter to Claudia, a mom to Allie
and Mac, a mom who struggles with patience and tolerance, a wife who is the
“bread-winner” in her home, a Christian woman who doesn’t fit the housewife
mold.
That doesn't mean that my way is best or her way is best. Actually
neither of our ways is best. Jesus is best. We are sinners. But when
we are seeking Him and His will, then the path that HE has placed us on IS
best for US. And as I set aside my preferences and self made prejudices, I can
begin to get to know you, even though I don’t understand you. I don’t
understand why Ashlee wants to be a public high school teacher. That is a
frightening thought to me! What do people historically do when they don’t
understand something or someone different? They fight it and try to make it
like them. But we are not called to be the average intolerant conquerors of old
(or the intolerant locals of the present). We are called to be set apart. So I
can chose to recognize that God made Ashlee one way and he made me another. To
grow in my sanctification, I can pursue Ashlee and try to find out what it is
about her that makes THIS the path on which God has placed her. I can then
support her, I can be FOR her, even though I’m not just LIKE her.
I know Ashlee well enough to know that she seeks God’s will for her
life. Even though we are different, it is easier to be FOR her when I know she
understands her need for Jesus. But what about that one who is NOT seeking God
and His will? How can I be FOR her? I can tell you how to NOT be FOR her…judging
her is not FOR her. Telling her what I think or what I did, giving unsolicited
advice, is not FOR her. FOR her is loving, serving, sharing truth, telling her what
GOD thinks according to His Word is and making myself a humble servant in the
likeness of Christ. THAT is FOR her. People have done this for me and still do.
When I am in seasons of sin and suffering, I am blessed with people who are
Jesus to me. I am so grateful for those people who are willing to pursue me
when I am only pursuing myself. The amazing thing is knowing that somehow, in
ways I can’t comprehend, God is using my sin and my seeking of my own will to
bring Himself glory and bring me good, the good of sanctification. He is author and
completer of my faith. He's the designer. All knowingly designing my weakness
and knowing how I will fall to temptation in order to make me more like Him and
bring His kingdom into completion.
Sometimes that phrase "my good and his glory" really bugs
me. We don't really get the definition of good there. In Rom 8:28 (all
things work together...) the Greek word for good is “agathos” and can be
translated as "useful". Sanctification is useful. Spreading the
Gospel is useful. Sometimes "my good" turns out to be things we
don't usually equate with good. Was it for Peter's good that he was crucified
upside down? Did anyone see the movie or read the book, "Unbroken?"
Was it good for Louie Zamperini’s plane to go down, for him to be lost at sea,
beaten, and tortured? Was it good for Betsie Ten Boom to die in a German
concentration camp after helping her family hide Jews for almost two years? Or
were all these events for the glory of God, through the sanctification of His
people and the furtherance of the Gospel to those around them. To this day,
souls are changed for Christ through these stories and so many like them. Our
limited understanding of "good" clouds our ability to trust God and His
plan. We are so self absorbed. We forget... the garden is created for the
Gardener to enjoy. The garden is NOT created for the plants.
Our "good" as I see it, is sanctification. But even our
sanctification is ultimately for HIS glory. More of Him, less of me. When it
becomes about me it's no longer sanctification. It's not about me reaching
perfection. It's about HIS glory being displayed in my life. It about HIS
kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. This is not the way that we
actually think. We think “good” is the American Dream. We think “good” is easy,
simple, straightforward. Jesus didn't achieve the American Dream. Things were
not easy for him. But for the JOY set before him he endured the cross. That joy
was rooted in eternal perspective. Jesus knew that this life is temporary and
real LIVING will be in eternity.
Have you ever heard of the concept of a sacrifice plant? I hadn’t…of
course, as we’ve learned, I’m no gardener. A sacrifice plant is planted
SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of attracting HARM so that other plants can
thrive. WOAH. That’s not very nice. A loving God would not do that, right?
Our sense of justice kicks in and tells us that we ALL should get a chance
to thrive. But a gardener will tell you that one sacrifice plant can save
dozens of other plants. Who am I to question the Master Gardener’s design? As
we’ve been learning on Sunday mornings, He knows all and He is not confined to
time and space. His plan is far bigger than I can dare to comprehend. Psalm
139:6 says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot
attain it.”
Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice plant. And like him we are called to
lay down our lives for the Father. Sometimes this actually means our physical
lives like Peter or Betsy Ten Boom. Sometimes it means our physical comforts
like Louis Zamperini. Rom 8:17 reminds us we share in his hardships so that we
will also share in his future glory, trusting the Master Gardener in his
perfect design.
Unlike plants, we have the blessing of having souls and we have the
option to recognize the need of our souls to be saved. You see every plant that
serves its purpose depends on the gardener. If no one prunes, if no one waters,
if no one feeds, the garden becomes a giant mess. The hardy, strong plants take
all the resources and the little, weak plants die. The garden looks nothing
like its design. It’s a messy, overgrown forest of weeds and stubborn,
aggressive plants. Just like plants, we want to go our own way and our way is
not the best way. Our way is riddled with sin and selfishness. But when we
entrust ourselves to the care of the Master Gardener, we can become something
beautiful. Even if that beauty means sacrifice for the good of the garden.
We have to submit our souls to the Master Gardener. We have to confess that our
way is not good, that it’s ugly, and messy. We have to subject ourselves to
being pruned, to being transplanted, even to being sacrificed.
Some of us are thriving. We are in summer. The soil is rich. Our
roots go deep. We are bearing fruit. Some of us are withering. We need pruning.
Each day is a struggle to survive. Wherever you are today, know that the Master
Gardener has designed everything about your situation, from the environment to
the season, from the harmful pests to the protective covering. Depend on him to
do what needs to be done. Trust in his love for you - a love that gave up
heaven just to be with you. “Wherever you are, be all there.” And let us be all
there WITH each other and FOR each other…for ALL our good and for all HIS glory.
