The impatiens looked at each other with
satisfaction. Bunched together in full array, they created quite a spectacle.
The pretty in pink, the deep-royal purple, the bright-neon orange, together
with the pure glorious white, made a luscious picture in this shady corner of
the yard. They swayed together, chattering as one in their comfort zone in the
shade. Life was good.
In the center garden, however, the parched
flowers hung listlessly in the still of the noonday sun. The large heads of the hydrangea, the stems
of the daisies and the sweet aster drooped with thirst. They did not have the
energy to look up or to encourage one another. They had lost their sense of
beauty. They had lost all strength. Even their roots felt the drought.
Near the back fence, the fertile plot
stood ready for anything. The compost
heap had eventually turned into this rich soil, eager to accept new seed, to be
filled with something new.
Weeds were flourishing everywhere. They
were hidden between the full set of impatiens in the shade. They stood in full
view among the fading blooms in the center garden, tall and strong even through
this succession of long, dry days. And there they were, low to the ground,
perched and waiting. They found the first spots in the fertile ground, ready to
spoil the success of any new seed.
The tenant came through the garage door
and noticed a stray branch hanging from the large ash tree in the corner. He
returned to the garage for a tool and a ladder and cut the wandering branch away.
A brilliant light suddenly shone on the
comfort zone of the impatiens in the corner. The impatiens had never
experienced a light such as this. In the comfort of their shady spot, they
could never have imagined they were missing anything at all, certainly nothing
like this. To think there had been something so magnificent just waiting to
shine on them and through them.
As the keeper of the garden moved back to
the yard after putting away his tools, he noticed the sad looking garden in the
center. Back he went again, to fetch a bucket. He went slowly back and forth,
pouring bucket after bucket of cool water over and over the parched flowers,
until their heads, once again, turned to the sky. Their thirsty roots were filled
with the living water that gives strength and hope and health to their weary
bodies.
He strolled toward the back of the yard.
The readiness of the soil caught his attention. He moved one more time to the
garage and pulled out several seed packets.
He
scattered them around the garden, imagining the wildflowers rising up in their
various colors and forms, scattering more seed as they grew. Eventually these
few seeds would scatter and move farther and farther along this back fence to
create an even more bountiful harvest of color. Spreading seeds here and there
can bring an amazing harvest to the patient gardener.
He pulled a few weeds as he walked back
around the yard. He soon realized there would be no way to yank them all out.
He would continue working a little bit at a time over the next few weeks. He
guessed there would always be weeds poking around here and there, threatening
to spoil what is good.
He stood, surveying the yard with a
practiced eye. The Master would be
pleased. The pruned tree looked much better and the amount of sunlight on the
impatiens would only help them shine brighter for the Master. He had almost
lost some flowers in the center garden. What if they had died and the master
would never have seen them? He caught them just in time and now just look at
them!
The Master had shared with him the dream
for the large area in the back. He visualized it in full harvest, not as it was
now, but as it would be one day. And now the time just might be right to sow
those seeds. The Master would help with the weeds. He always had a vision and
an answer.
How is your garden growing?
Still other seed fell on
good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some
sixty, some a hundred times. Mark 4:8
Lord,
Show us how to get out of our comfort zone, to stay
rooted in You, to plant seeds wherever we go.
In Jesus name,
Amen
