Take Care of your Heart by Rose McCormick Brandon

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

 

Pepper Point Gardens, Manitoulin Island 

A woman bought a house because she liked the previous owner’s landscaping. As the new owner, she enjoyed the perennial garden with its peonies, roses, delphiniums and clematis.  After a few weeks she noticed changes. Roses hung their heads. Dead blooms tainted the appearance of flowering bushes. The neglected garden soon looked unkempt. 

Like a garden, the heart requires care. 

The heart is the inward person. Think of it as the garden of the soul. A good gardener tends the soil by adding compost and other beneficial material. She prunes stray branches to add symmetry and to let in sunlight. She waters and fertilizes, moves plants from one area to another and never seems to stop noticing areas that need help.

No one deliberately plants weeds, but they appear even in well-tended gardens. The diligent gardener pulls them while they’re small, when they can be easily removed. Weeds quickly develop strong roots that require a shovel and labour to remove them. Some pervasive weeds require extreme measures like laying a sheet of plastic over the ground and around the roots of plants. This keeps the sun from penetrating the soil, thus preventing weeds from growing. The passionate gardener uses every necessary means to keep plants and soil healthy.

Our hearts require the same diligent care. The wise keep their hearts free from resentment, lies, profane talk, perversions and all kinds of sin. Anything that destroys goodness is an enemy. Jesus said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart” (Luke 6:45).

Nurture your heart with God’s Word. Take care that it doesn’t become overgrown with weeds like worry and sins of all kinds. Listen to God's prompts. Replace anger, hatred and fear with a childlike trust in God. If your heart is in an overgrown state begin weeding out the offenders one by one. 

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior" Ephesians 4:31. 

Prayer: Father, make me more mindful of what I watch, read and hear.

***

Rose McCormick Brandon writes from her home in Caledonia, Ontario. Her award-winning Biblical essays, personal experience pieces and devotionals have been published in several periodicals in Canada and the U.S. 

Tis the Growing Season

Everywhere I look now, I see the green of spring, pretty petalled flowers and their stems, leaves unfolding on trees, and little shoots coming up in the garden. And bigger plants that were started as seedlings. And while refreshing the flower beds this spring, sharing some of the overgrowth with fellow gardeners. Soon the weeds will come too, unfortunately.

Our own garden beds

We’ve got an extra bed for plants this year, besides our own two raised ones in our backyard. A church not far from ours has expanded their community garden and I thought I’d like to try it out this year. That bed is planted too, just last week, so the seeds are doing their thing, germinating underground, I hope, and the tiny onion sets are beginning to poke a stem through the soil. It’s an experiment this year, having an extra garden elsewhere. My granddaughters helped to plant at our home, and I look forward to showing the two older ones the other bed when they come next week. It will take some extra work and time going there and back, but it’s an interesting experiment thus far.

Community garden bed behind this colourful one

The promise of growth happens in spring in creation and it can also happen in our lives when we dare to explore something new. I haven’t always been a writer, for publication, but I’ve always been a reader. My first career as a preschool teacher taught me things that I didn’t know that helped me when my children were young preschoolers. It’s still an age I enjoy, even if my energy is not all it used to be. Each new thing I’ve tried—retail, election work, learning to play musical instruments, storytelling, teaching, writing and editing—have brought with them lessons I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. New connections were forged and publication credits encouraging, but also humbling.

The down sides have been like the weeds, cropping up here and there, making me doubt myself and my abilities from time to time. I ask myself, Was I meant to do this? But it was always something I wanted to try, like learning to play guitar more than a year ago, and more recently, deciding to try playing bells in a bell choir. The learning was still sometimes quite hard and required greater concentration.

Storytelling at the Button Factory

I’m still learning and hope I always can continue to learn. It keeps life interesting. It’s not always something brand new, but a different area of something that already holds my interest, like natural gardening and ways to work with nature instead of against it. 

And so the weeds are there all the same, in the garden and in our lives. I just need to learn when to pull them out and examine the situation from a different perspective before jumping back in again.

Garden, if you wish, but learn to recognize the weeds.

Good Soil—Carolyn R. Wilker

At the library last evening I picked up a book titled 1001 Tips for Canadian Gardeners. My own garden has taken years to get where it is now, and I’m still learning. Two of our three daughters bought new homes in the last year. This year they’re still figuring out what to do with the land around their homes.

The soil at both places seems to be heavier, unlike the sandy soil we have. There is a need to emend the soil both places—to lighten and feed it.

Our youngest daughter started to work with her garden area and flower beds last year, pulling out overgrown plants and taming weeds. In some areas, it must feel like a losing battle, but she’s added fresh soil to the garden area and likely compost too, and so this year it was ready for a small vegetable garden that is indeed growing well.

The yard at the home of my eldest daughter once was quite a show place, according to photos the owner’s family left behind. Yet, the place had been untended for years, and there was much work to do inside and out. Last summer, with a young child, and a baby coming, the indoor renovations took precedence, but this spring and summer, the outdoors has received attention too. The front bed with overgrown shrubs and hundreds of grape hyacinths has been cleared for now. The backyard needed attention, too. Both friends and family helped remove the overgrowth and trim mature trees that provided good shade.

The book I borrowed addresses many features of taking care of the land and gardens, in planning, considering environmental factors, along with garden design and soil modification. Both yards will become more manageable in time. For now, one with a baby wanted to grow food, and the other, with a small child and a baby, had to consider safety and put up fencing to keep a two-year-old safe.

 In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13), the sower went out to plant. Some seed fell on rocky ground and couldn’t take hold and grow. Other seeds fell on the path and the birds ate the seeds. (They need to eat too.) Seeds that fell among thorns were overtaken and never had a chance to grow. Then the seed that fell on good soil did very well and produced a good crop.

Jesus interpreted the parable for his disciples. People of the time would understand those lessons, too, for they were keepers of the land as we are today.

In the same way, good seed planted in our minds help us to stay closer to God. Weeds were the evil, Jesus said, that choked out the good crop, making plants wither and die. He wanted his people to understand how to bear fruit, not just to grow it.

The book of gardening tips will be just as helpful to the serious stewards of the land as the Bible is to our understanding of God and the kingdom. And I’m sure God, the Creator of beauty, would appreciate a nicely kept yard and garden too.

Author's vegetable garden

Author's flower gardens

Carolyn R. Wilker is an editor and author. Learn more about her at www.carolynwilker.ca

now available from the author and Angel Hope Publishing

A Garden of Gratitude by Glynis M Belec

Laughing Lobelia

Satisfied Sage

Merry Mint

Today my garden said 'Thank you!' For weeks the droplets have been scarce or non-existent. This year I have been determined to keep all things hydrated so I have been faithfully watering early morning and late evening. Shoots have been a little thankful, and for the most part I have managed to help ward off sizzling seedlings.                                                                                                                                                                                         But then the rain came. It poured. I opened the patio door and I could almost hear my collective vegetables and flowers singing praise to their Master Gardener. They were thankful that I kept them going but they danced with joy when their Creator lavished them with the waters that would do so much more than sustain.                                                                                                                                                                                  

As I gazed at the gulping earth I thought about how that is so like God. He allows us to have a hand in His creation but ultimately He is in control. Sure my little garden hose might have made a little bit of difference, but for me to cause the garden to come to the intended fruition - it wouldn't have happened. I might have helped a determined bean sprout or a frazzled marigold stay upright.                                                                                                                                                                             But one thing I noticed - every night and every morning, there were signs of exhaustion and drooping and discoloured leaves. The ground remained scorched and parts of my little plants were giving up. What I was doing was good, but it was obviously insufficient.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               This morning was different. There was no drooping. No battle weary fatigue. No signs of retreat. There was a new fragrance - an earthy, warm smell. The sun shone and the once tired plants stood tall saluting the Master Gardener. The green looked lush and vibrant. Pretty pink petunias and laughing lobelia held their heads high and their beauty attracted buzzing bees hungry for sweet pollen. A white cabbage moth circled eyeing the green plant waving in the gentle, warm breeze.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    That was when I thought about God. It was time I stopped to say thank you to the Master Gardener in my life. Sometimes I am quick to take credit; when my life and every breath I take is ultimately all about God. I plod along and prattle on, forgetting that He is the One who has poured the Water of Life into my days. He sent His son who poured out His blood so I can be here and be a witness to His glory and grace; His forgiveness and peace. He does more for me than sustain me. He offers me His final fruit - eternal life. When I think about that, I feel like dancing in the rain.   

Triumphant Tomato 

Delighted Dill

Stalwart Stevia

   A summer rain brings refreshment and renewed life. Jesus brings us that same kind of rejuvenation in our lives when we turn to Him and trust Him and allow Him to control our weakened state. We are no less worthy because we turn to Him. In fact, when we do turn to Him in all areas of our life, then growth happens. Our roots are made secure. Our core is established. Fruit appears. 

Lettuce pray!

A Garden of Gratitude

Playful Parsley 

I, for one, am happy the Master Gardener is tilling the soil and sending the refreshing rain in my life! 

“And it shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.”  

Deuteronomy 11:13-14

(Now to get to those pesky weeds that also love the refreshing rain - literally and figuratively) 

Glynis lives, loves, laughs and does an awful lot of reading, writing, publishing and praying in her home office. 

Her latest children's book, which happened to be shortlisted for a Word Guild award in the Children's category - Hopeful Homer - offers hope and encouragement to never ever give up!

The Garden as a Lesson in Growth-- Carolyn Wilker

        

I’m teaching my granddaughters who are 4 and 6 about gardening. It's an ongoing lesson. They enjoy helping me plant and giving the plants a drink. I’m sure they’d be like me, as a child, if it was a large garden, dreading the long rows, but ours are much shorter than the large garden we had on the farm. 

posing at the garden with her own tools

The garden teaches about growing. After sowing seeds, we look forward to seeing those first shoots poke above the ground. The children are gentle with the tender small plants that we set in the ground. They know that water helps the plants grow and so they love to get out the watering can and help it along.

ready with the watering can

The shoots are those first signs that something is happening underground, just as when we begin to learn something new. An interesting thought begins to work its way into our mind. It brings more questions and then the desire to learn more about that appealing topic.

As in the garden, where there’s enough sun and rain, growth happens. The plants produce blossoms, signs of continuing growth and promise of fruit. The same thing goes for people when they are encouraged and taught. And it’s not just in children. Give adults enough encouragement and opportunity, and they produce fruit too.

Perhaps that’s why my father so liked trees. He’d see the results of the trimming and pruning to give the tree a chance to grow stronger. He helped it along and watched nature do the rest. And he guided and taught us too.        

  My father worked the land. It was part of his livelihood, but part of his passion too, and his interest in the environment went alongside it. Preparing the soil by ploughing and cultivating, feeding it—albeit with that smelly stuff called ‘manure’—and then later, putting in the seed.

That’s not the only lesson of the garden. Plants die at the end of a season. When the blossoms are spent and the plant is done producing, it withers and fades. If we leave the plant in the garden to break down, it leaves food for the next planting season.

When humans die, especially those we love, young or old, it’s definitely painful. The body grows old and becomes weary and can no longer thrive as it once did, as it did for my Dad. We grieve and know that death is part of life, and that it's hard. And we know there's more to come. We realize that lessons imparted along the way can help the next generation grow and mature too.

At Dad’s funeral just one month ago, our theme for his service was trees. One of my sisters had the brilliant, and very fitting, idea to give out white pine seedlings to people who’d come to remember our father. All 200 tree seedlings arrived just in time—the day before the service. Another sister created tags and attached them, and all of the tiny trees found a home.

The cross Dad built from a tree, in the sanctuary for his service

Our grandchildren will watch their trees grow, and they will water them too, encouraging the little seedlings to spread their roots and grow tall. And for those smaller ones who won’t remember their Great-Grandpa as well, they can watch the tree grow as their parents tell them the story of one they loved.

 

my father

“A time to plant, a time to reap.” The philosopher in Ecclesiastes (3:2) must have been a gardener too.

our tiny seedling

Carolyn R. Wilker is an editor and author from southwestern Ontario.