Garden therapy

I have a confession to make:

I’ve been suffering from a bad attitude.

I’m not proud of it but I am human and I do sometimes let myself get in an emotional place that I don’t really want to be.   Nor is it a place that I need to be or stay. 

The other day I was wearing my bad attitude a little too well so I asked my husband to watch after the kids.  And I went to the garden to meet with the Great Therapist…

He will meet me anywhere that I will meet Him but here in the garden, I feel especially close to Him. 

I fell down to my knees in front of a bed and began to pull at the weeds that were growing amongst the beautiful plants.  With each weed, I confessed my bad attitude and the things that I hold on to that cause my bad attitude.  Just like the weeds compete with the fruit that the plant bears so will the weeds of my sin compete with the fruit that I may bear.

As I shoveled compost into the beds, I thought of how this beautiful, rich soil was once someone’s trash…something that others threw away.  But God used it.  He turned it into something beautiful…something that will nurture plants.  Something that will fulfill the needs of a family.

I wondered if God could use my life, one that some might see as unsuccessful, to help fulfill the needs of others.  And I marveled at the answer.  Yes, He can use my life to touch others.  He can use this simple, stay-at-home mom to shape a new generation of Christ Followers. 

As I looked among the plants, I found myself focused on the red raspberry vines.  The vine all but died away this winter but now it is full of green leaves…life…  And soon it will yield tasty, beautiful fruit.  The vine is covered with thorns and yet, we will receive sweet fruit.

I thought of my life.  For two years, I felt as though I was walking through a desert.  Now joy is returning…life is being restored.  I see green leaves in my own life.

Sometimes I see those thorns too like when the bad attitude settles into my heart.  But I know that God forgives me.  I will walk away from this bad attitude with a renewed spirit and I will see fruit…

sweet, sweet fruit…

Thank you God for meeting me in the garden for some garden therapy.