It all started when my
husband and I bought a house. We wanted a fairly large block of land and at
least 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms because we planned to start a family in the
not-too-distant future. However, our budget limited our options to houses that were…
well, let’s just say they needed a bit of work doing to them.
That’s how we ended up
with a house that had been a rental for 9 years and had a garden to prove it.
BEAUTY
I’ve always been a person
who is a little superficial about appearances (my husband might debate the
“little”). I like things to look pretty – my surroundings as well as myself.
And so having a garden that looked like an overgrown jungle just wouldn’t do
for me. I wanted a place to sit quietly and appreciate the view, I wanted
flowers to admire and birds to watch, I wanted a nice green lawn and most of
all I wanted it all to look neat and beautiful. And because I wasn’t a
millionaire, the only way I could get these things was if my husband and I
created our Garden of Eden ourselves.
BREAKING UP CONCRETE
For some unknown reason,
the previous owners of our house had installed a rather large shed nearly
smack-bang in the middle of the backyard. It was the first thing that had to go
before we could start re-landscaping. Taking the shed itself down was no hassle
– it was an old tin thing – but the giant concrete slab was another story
altogether. My frugal husband decided that it was too expensive to hire a
jack-hammer to break up the concrete, so instead he used an old-fashioned
sledge hammer to get the job done manually (!!). Unfortunately it was only the
beginning of his battle with concrete in our backyard – time and again he would
discover concrete slabs of varying sizes whilst he was digging and have to
spend ages getting them out before he could carry on with the project (we think
our backyard must have been used as a dumping ground for a while!).
The bomb site after my husband had finished breaking up the concrete slab |
PLANTING CHALLENGES
After my husband had finished
all the landscaping (a process that took months), it finally came time to put
in some new plants. I was so enthusiastic about this, I even decided to try
growing plants from seeds because I figured this way I’d get the largest number
for the least cost (there was a lot of space to fill). In the end though, it
took a lot of ripping plants out and putting new ones in before I eventually
found varieties that thrived in the spots I had for them. I guess this is why
people employ garden designers! But I enjoyed the process (for the most part),
learning lots along the way.
I was so proud when my seeds actually sprouted! |
THEN AND NOW
I didn’t realise how much
I would come to enjoy gardening when I first set out. It started off as a
beauty project but turned into so much more. It’s now many things for me –
being out in the sunshine, the satisfaction of ripping out weeds, shaping a
plant to accentuate its beauty, watching it grow and flower, the physical
tiredness at the end of a day in the garden reminding me of all that I’ve accomplished.
ON A DEEPER LEVEL
Then there’s the next
level, the level that sees gardening as a symbol of the work that God is doing
to my heart. He starts off by breaking up the concrete slabs, softening me to
his calling. He pulls out the weeds (my sin), starting off with the big (most
visible) ones – I notice the smaller (less obvious) ones once they’re gone. The
weeding is a constant process because my sin keeps coming back and needs
continual pulling and poisoning with the Word. He prunes me through trials and
temptations, causing new growth to spring up from the places that he cut back.
He digs into the soil of my heart, showing me what is in there (more concrete
slabs?!?). He causes the seed of his Word to sprout and bring me life. And, like a garden, I am also a work in progress that needs constant tending by Him.
So I’m glad that I developed
this gardening craze – who knew that this hobby would come to have such immense
value not just to my physical body, but to my soul?
Perfect!!! What a beautiful metaphor for the Christian life. The weeding is most definitely a constant (and sometime excruciatingly painful) process, and frustratingly with periods of neglect comes a corresponding increase in the weeds! But as you say, we are all a work in progress, and grateful to be so xx
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it resonates with you too Sue :-). I often wonder whether the metaphor I see in weeding is intentional on God's part!
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