I love the outdoors! I love the warmth of spring and summer days, seeing the beautiful flowers bloom, and seeing people outside enjoying God’s creation. Every spring, the same thing happens to me – I get the itch to plant flowers, seeds, a garden…you name it! However, I was not born with a “green thumb”. Plants tend to meet their end when I get involved. I have come to realize why this is though - I am impatient! When I plant a bulb or a seed, I want to see results immediately. I want to see beautiful flowers and I want them to stay bloomed and beautiful without having to do anything to them. That isn’t how it works though. Plants need to be planted where proper sunlight can reach them. They need watered and then you have to hope and pray that critters won’t eat the bulbs or the buds. Plants take a lot of work!
Isn’t that like our lives though? I look at my spiritual walk with God and can compare it to gardening. I want to be fully developed spiritually and be a righteous follower of God, but I often don’t want to do the work it takes to stay bloomed and beautiful. Just like with plants that need the proper elements to grow, so do we as Christians. We have the tools to nurture our souls, such as the Bible, worship music, teaching from Pastors and biblical teachers, and fellowship with other believers. God, our gardener, gives us the things we need to grow spiritually. But we can’t expect immediate results. We have to be willing to put in the time and the effort to actually want to grow and develop. We have to make time to read the Word and pray or listen to worship music. We have to go to church or join an online service. We have to be around others who will hold us accountable in our walk with Christ. I know that if I sit back and expect results in my life, without actually trying to grow, I will eventually wither and wilt. Check out what Ephesians 4:15-16 says:
“…we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
God has equipped us to grow! But God also knows that sometimes we need to be pruned in order to grow more effectively. Sometimes that involves taking away the comfort and peace we have, causing us to look to Him. We have experienced this in full force lately, haven’t we? Other times, it involves outside elements (like the critters who eat my bulbs) attacking us, causing us to turn to God for the help that only He can give. God is in control and can garden us however He feels best to help us grow to our full potential.
God has the ultimate green thumb because he knows exactly what each of His children need and He knows that we all grow at a different pace. He is patient to give us those things we need and then watch us flourish and grow. If only I could be as patient with my plants! So, ask yourself, what am I doing to grow in my faith? Am I taking advantage of the things God has given me to grow? Am I spending time each day with the gardener? I pray that we will continue to trust God as He continues to grow us.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 3:18
By: Joanne Flaker