CREATED TO THRIVE

                                

                                                

Welcome to my jungle, I mean garden

Confession:

              I'm not proud of it, but I've neglected my garden this year. That may not 

seem like a big deal, but what if I told you that my unkempt garden is actually an 

honest reflection of even more important things that I have neglected?  Sure, my 

garden is surviving, we can walk out there together and I can send you home with 

some tomatoes and a few yellow zucchinis and maybe even a pepper or two if we 

dig through the weeds.  However, as the one who planted this garden, I know that 

my plants didn't yield what they were capable of, my canning tomatoes are 

stunted and there are other vegetables and herbs that I planted that didn't even 

break the soil. 

        

         Why?  Well, I kept saying it was because there were other things that needed 

my attention that were more pressing, but really, isn't that the excuse far too 

often? 

      

         This year I  depended on a sprinkler on a timer to do the work for me, but 

apparently it doesn't weed.  Not only that, but it didn't water a whole corner of my 

garden for most of the summer. ( enter the stunted tomatoes.) If I was doing my 

job as a gardener, I would've noticed that long ago and been able to fix it.  And 

ugh, the weeds!!  How much simpler life in the garden would have been if I slipped 

in everyday to pull the few weeds that arrived over night, versus waiting until I 

stood in the discouragement and defeat of standing in a jungle.  The moldy "Bless 

My Garden" sign on my garden gate causes me to wince as it reminds me of my 

good intentions at the beginning of summer when I hung it with anticipation.   

       

        Clearly good intentions aren't enough to keep a garden alive, but you know 

what?  They also aren't enough to keep anything else that matters alive either. 

       

        As I have waded through my garden the last couple of weeks to harvest my 

stunted Romas, I cannot ignore the question of what else might be stunted in my 

life?  What else has been just surviving, that was actually created to THRIVE?  

What in my life and relationships are withering of THIRST?

       

       For me, I don't have to dig very deep to find these answers.   They are right 

on the surface when I pause long enough to listen.  I cannot expect to thrive in 

areas that I am not tending daily to, whether that be my body, my marriage, 

parenting, my relationship with God and so on.   Whether  we like it or not the 

weeds do come and they thrive best in unkempt places. 

       

        I don't know about you, but there are a couple areas in my life where I feel 

like I am standing knee deep in those nasty, pokey weeds that threaten to steal 

what is mine.   For me, it causes me to question what I have been giving my time 

and attention to that has kept me from tending the most sacred places in my life.   

       Sure, I have hung out a bit with discouragement in this place of realization, 

but I want to be done with that.  Instead, I want to be thankful to have noticed 

through my messy garden and I am ready to roll up my sleeves and take back 

what is mine, and I don't mean my garden.   I want to thrive.

       How about you?  Is there something sacred in your life that looks a little bit 

buried (or maybe a lot of bit) , but it's worth fighting for?  Is there an  area in your 

life that is just surviving (maybe even barely), but you want more; you want to 

thrive?  

        Now is as good of time as any.  It's not too late! Let's roll up our sleeves 

together!