The Missing Gardener

After being away for the summer, I have come home to a garden in disarray. This was no one’s fault. Basic watering was completed as requested, but the tasks of the gardener, which are mine, were left undone.

No pruning. No fertilizing. No deadheading of blooms. No weeding. No turning of pots for better light. Plenty of water, but no thoughtful care.

No love.

The shrimp plant, while huge with flourishing growth, has no blossoms. The dahlia blooms, which were lusciously large, are small now. Several pots host only weeds, and the salvia, bless it, is quite spindly and frail.

My beautiful red rose bush boasts one sideways growing bloom, and the caladium has failed to reach its full potential. What was once a stunning miniature yellow rose now displays washed out yellow knots of color. I’m not sure I can call them roses. My pot of gerbera daisies has been rudely overtaken by another plant that has grown into a giant. I am not sure what it is. The coral Impatience, probably the happiest of all the plants, is still blooming profusely in its old, galvanized bucket. Something to be thankful for.

A lot can happen in three months. A lot can happen when the gardener is missing in action.

My heart can be like my garden.

If I neglect basic tasks in the maintenance of my spiritual life, I soon find that my heart is in disarray. Thoughts are scattered. Worries take over. The weeds of the world choke out the blooms that the Holy Spirit wants to display in my life, and the fruit that is present becomes small, spindly, and quite frail.

The tasks that maintain my spiritual life are not unlike the responsibilities that sustain my garden. First, I must know the Master Gardener, Jesus the Christ. He is the One who has saved me and given me life eternal. Then, there are some disciplines that allow me to nurture my relationship with him while I live on this Earth.

Bible reading and study are the fertilizer that strengthen my heart and help me to grow strong in Him. Through this study the Holy Spirit teaches and convicts my heart, pruning and weeding the sins that so easily spring up in my life. Fellowship with other Christians keeps my heart turned toward the Light and accountable in my spiritual life. Daily prayer is my lifeline to my Savior where I can bask in His love.

I don’t want my heart to suffer the effects of a missing gardener like my poor garden has, so I’m asking God to help me be attentive to its care. He is the Master Gardener, so I know He will.

Perhaps you, like me, need to do a walk through your heart’s garden today. It is a good time to spend with the Savior.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5, KJV).