Gardens are works of art. They’re often the bragging point for a city or country; a landmark that tourists must see on their journey to your nook. Images of gardens are displayed on magazine covers and on postcards. Newlywed couples often pose for photographs in gardens; the natural scene is an ideal backdrop for love. If you’ve ever spoken to a gardener, they speak with great pride of their garden, knowing how much blood, sweat, tears and achy knees went into their labour.
Just as gardens grow something useful, so my spirituality helps to grow me.
The basics for tending a garden include seeds, sun, water, love…and fertilizer. The fertilizer struck me because it’s something we rarely consider.
Fertilizer is messy. Two types of fertilizer jumped to mind: compost and manure. (Yes, seriously!) Compost is pretty much glorified rotting garbage. Table scraps and other odds & ends are put together to fester and make nutrients. Manure is the excrement of an animal, which also contains wonderful growth properties for garbage.
God, the Gardener of my life, uses my messes to grow me. Problems. Struggles. Setups & let downs. Some messes are thrown at me; others I have created myself. But rather than leave me to rot somewhere, God applies His love and grace. If I am willing to trust the Gardener, His perfect green thumb will use my mess to fertilize me and create something beautiful and picturesque.
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I’m linking up with the Five Minute Friday community today.