It is a funny thing--how the Lord speaks to us. He usually uses common themes in my life, metaphors, symbolic references--all of which strike me in the very center of my tender heart. Often, I sit back and marvel at how particular He is in sending these themes in my life in the moments I need them, or in the moments I can relate them to another (who may need them as well). One of these themes is that of a Gardener.
Most people whom I love deeply, who love me deeply, or who change my life for the better, have revolved around this theme of being or becoming a Gardener. One of my husbands favorite talks is that by Hugh B. Brown, "God is the Gardener". My husband has always loved that theme, of God and the Gardener.
So on with the Lord and His Hand:
My Mother has been a unique Gardener in my life. Years ago, for her 50th Birthday, my sisters and I produced gifts for her from our own hands--a quilt with beautiful flowers appliqued on it, a pillow with the words "Gardener" upon it, and a poem from me, titled Gardener. I found it recently:
Infant seeds
Weathered hands,
Press firmly in the ground.
Tend to them, wise Gardener,
Tend to your sweet
Infant seeds,
Weathered hands,
They water and they prune.
Pleading for some light
To fall upon your little babes
Piercing ground
Inching up
Toward weathered hands for care.
Protected in the shadow
Of the wise strong
Gardener,
Reaching down
To nourish and to love.
Struggling to keep them safe,
To give them place for growth.
In full bloom
Flowers bright--
The fruit of your dear work;
To plant, nourish, tend, and care
For your little
Infant seeds
Weathered hands--
Great honor goes to them.
Though pierced and trodden by the world
They've nourished little babes.
My dear mother...a Gardener in my life, as most good mother's are to their children...is a beautiful keeper of her "garden". As I read through those words I find myself in awe over how I am becoming that very thing to my own children as well.
I watched Steve in the yard, doing his gardening tasks. He is as natural as it gets when it comes to being outside and working with his hands; it is a beautiful thing to me.
I thought of everything we have been through and couldn't help but be drawn to that one talk by Hugh B. Brown...he talks about God as the Gardener in such a profound and beautiful way:
"Some of you, as you go forward, are going to meet with disappointment, will have many disappointment, some of them crucial. Sometimes you will wonder whether He has forgotten you. Sometimes you will even wonder if He lives.... But in these times, when so many say God is dead, where so many are denying His existence, I think I cannot leave with you a better message than this; God is aware of you individually--He knows who you are and what you are, and furthermore, He knows what you are capable of becoming. Be not discouraged then, if you do not get all the things you want, just when you want them. Have the courage to go on and face your life, and if necessary, reverse it to bring it into harmony with His law. (Hugh B. Brown then goes on to speak of a currant bush and symbolically relate a theme of adversity in life) As I looked at this currant bush, the clumps, there seemed to be a tear on each one. And I said to them, 'What's a matter currant bush? What are you crying about?' I thought I heard that currant bush speak, it seemed to say, 'How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as large as the fruit tree and the shade tree. And now you've cut me down, and all in the garden will look upon me with contempt and pity. How could you do it? I thought you were the Gardener here.'....I said,'Look little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. If I let you go the way you want to go, you'll never amount to anything, but someday when you're laden with fruit, you're going to look back and say, thank you Mr.Gardener for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me."
How piercing it is when our Gardener continues to either cut us down...or allow us to be cut down; what a painful, tear evoking process it is.
One thing that Steve focused on while tending to his garden, was the weeds; be pulled, cut, sprayed, and maybe even cursed them away!!! How necessary that becomes in life...to rid ourselves of the weeds once and for all.
I have come upon an individual whom I have taken in as a father who used that theme when speaking to me regarding mine and Steve's individual and combined trials; he said, "An interesting part of a garden is the speed at which weeds grow and overtake the garden....I am constantly whacking at them with my hoe and cutting at them with a shovel. I have even tried to bury them with dirt, only to have them come back stronger and more determined to overtake the plants that I so carefully cultivate. But I have found that if I can get to the roots of those tough weeds, I have a good chance of getting rid of them permanently. At times when I have watered the parched ground, they become easy to pull up, even the deep roots."
Seems like this path we are walking, the one lined with seeds of ugliness and contempt waiting to take root, needs to be soaked in tears...healing tears, in order for the true Gardener to work His magic. It is then that weeds of sin, sorrow, heartaches, lost and forgotten dreams, and fears can be pulled. Yes, God will continue to cut us down, but He will also do it as the ultimate cultivator of our salvation. He knows what we need, what we are capable of, and how He can best look down upon us, His infant seeds, so that we may one day "produce" for Him in His Kingdom. The key is submitting to His purposes and Will...that's the hard work, once our will is His, it becomes easier to allow His Hands to do Their beautiful intricate work.
