03 - The Garden of our Life

My daughter is growing her first garden this year. She’s been babying these little seedlings she’s placed in the ground. Watering regularly and checking up on them. Moving the ones that are in pots, in and out of the sun, until it seems she’s found just the right spot that seems to agree with the plant’s temperament for sun and shade. Placed in the right conditions, with the right caretaking, these little flowers and plants can be all they’re meant to be and produce great beauty and nourishment for those around them. 

I love to see her take the time to nurture them and find just the right amount of whatever it is they need to help them really thrive. It reminds me of the grace I hope she learns to give herself more over time. I hope she sees herself in some ways, as the little seedlings she so lovingly cares for with great patience, attention, and tenderness, and that with a little more of the same in her own life - time, attention and tenderness - she will grow and thrive into all she’s designed to be as well. 

Our gracious Heavenly Father being the great caretaker in our lives, is the one who so patiently takes the time to nurture us into just the right conditions where we can fully thrive. He pulls out the weeds that could choke us out, lovingly bringing us the life giving elements that really help us to grow into all we’re called to be. Often, He’s tending to us in ways we will probably never fully know.

It’s a process though. And it takes grace.

Our timelines tend to be so different from the Lord’s. I remember so many times negotiating with the Lord about timing and begging in desperation for prayers to be answered. 

One particularly painful prayer that has been waged since I was seventeen years old relates to asking God to align my passions and purpose in such a way where I can be all I am called to be. I’ve had different wording and language over the years for this prayer. 

In my 30’s I remember begging God, “Don’t make me wait until I’m 40 to eventually find my purpose.” 

Well, 40 came and went. So did 41, then 42, and here I am, on the cusp of almost 43.  

If I want to, I can easily tell you what prayers didn’t get answered, what didn’t pan out the way I had hoped and what hopes and dreams are yet to be fulfilled. 

Yet even in those unmet hopes, He’s forging something new and transforming the pain into things that are even yet to be revealed.. He’s lovingly cleansing the smudges on the lenses I’ve viewed life through and placing them gently on the bridge of my nose. He’s tapping my shoulder and coaxing me to turn around and see, really see, and take in the full view behind me of where He’s been in the scope of my life.

You know what else He’s doing? He’s turning me back around to view the endless miles that lie in front of me too. Admittedly, I can get so lost in the past at times that I don’t see what He’s doing now or let myself get hopeful or excited for the future, because I get so scared that it will never come to be.

Isn’t that often easier to do? You don’t allow yourself to get hopeful because you don’t want to be disappointed. And so, to cope, you manage your expectations so that you don’t feel the weight of unmet expectations. 

God is so loving though. He’s a perfect gentleman. So often, when I was in my deepest pain, He didn’t force me to face any of it that I wasn’t ready for. 

He gently settled in the mud beside me, the pit of my despair, and just sat with me while I cried, wrapping His arms around me. There was no pressure from Him or rush to heal so I could “give a testimony”. He gave me all the space I needed. And then, when I was ready, He wiped the tears away, and held out His hand for support and helped me to stand back up. 

He has healed me so much that you likely wouldn't know what I’ve walked through unless I told you.

So yes, there has been unanswered prayers. But you know what else there’s been? There’s been boundless grace and love and redemption.

And in that grace, I’ve realized He’s been impressing something on me lately. It’s that in any area where we’ve fought hard for is an area we have gained authority to minister to others in. So you better believe I look forward to praying over anyone who’s contending for purpose and vision for their life!

Lastly, I think of my sweet daughter Kayla, and the authority she will carry when speaking to others about depression, anxiety, and fear. The battles she’s fought are not in vain. The wins are for her, yes, but they are also for those she will encounter along her own journey. The Lord will align into her path others that she will have the unique grace to minister to because of the authority she will carry in this area.

That’s the beautiful thing about the garden of our lives. Our great caretaker, Jesus is the master gardner, but it’s also others that come into the garden of our lives that the Lord uses to nurture us into all He designed us to become.

When my daughter planted her garden, it was her first time, and she wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. So her dad and I came along and took her to the store to buy what was needed. The point is that there was a coming together to plant the garden. And isn’t that so like our lives? The Lord is the master gardener, holding the most invested responsibility in us, but it’s also others that come into the gardens of our lives and pour elements that can either nourish or harm.

The garden of our lives is meant for community and connection. While there are places in the garden that are only meant for you and the Lord. Places of intimacy that you will only experience with Him. There are other sections though, where when invited in by our permission, the Lord uses community to nourish and grow us into all we’re designed to be. It can be such a beautiful thing. Messy at times, yes, because we’re all human and imperfect. But we are loved by a perfect God who cleanses and heals every wound in a way that only He can do.

Kayla is learning the ins and outs involved in tending to a physical garden. She’s also learning about the Lord through the way He’s tending the garden of her life and heart.

It takes grace. So much beautiful magnificent grace.

She’s learning. And I think we can all learn too. To let the Gardner have his perfect work in us.

James 1:4 - “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”.