Flowers are truly one of my favorites! I love the variety of colors, textures, shapes, fragrances, and sizes in which they come.
My style of learning is visual so it’s no wonder that I love flowers. I never tire of looking at the flowers in my garden. In fact, I have been known to walk outside several times a day just to gaze upon the beauty of the flowers around my house.
When we moved to our current house of six months, the only greenery we could call our own was the grass in our back-yard, and just four shrubs in the front of our house.
This is our fourth house, and every time we have moved to a house, I have always enjoyed cleaning out old over-grown gardens of vines and weeds and then transforming them into something beautiful by adding flowers.
This house would be no exception. Once I had the funds available, I set to work, adding a variety of beautiful and fragrant blooms to my gardens. I mostly invested in perennials so I could enjoy their beauty for years to come, reserving my porch pots for a few cheaper annuals.
Then, my dear mother-in-law, who loves flowers as much as me brought quite a few potted flowers from her gardens. Before she had departed that weekend, I had already added all the plants to my flower-beds, in spite of high heat indexes.
Not only do I love gazing at my flowers, but I enjoy taking care of them. I water them regularly and am careful to prune, weed, and do all the many things plant-lovers do.
One recent day as I was snapping off the heads of the dead petunias, I couldn’t help but think of the many lessons we can learn from gardening.
I’ll try to keep it short and sweet this time, but here they are:
1. Some flowers require old growth to be removed so that energy isn’t wasted and new growth can occur.
How about us? God wants to remove the old sin patterns and old wounds from our lives and pasts so that our energy isn’t wasted on what was but now shouldn’t be so that new life and growth can occur in our lives. Sometimes, the process is painful and can seem unnecessary or tiresome. Yet, all growth requires investment and change.
2. When seeking to help others to grow are we careful how we “remove” or point out old growth so that we don’t damage new, tender blooms in the process?
As I was snapping off the dead blooms from my Petunias, I managed to snap off one or two fresh blooms in the process. I couldn’t help but think how sometimes we do this to fellow believers and to our own children. We are so eager to point out the areas in which they need to grow, but sometimes in our eagerness or zealousness, we forget that gentleness is necessary in order to not bruise or harm the tender buds that are unfurling.
3. Consistent watering is required for most flowers to maintain a healthy life.
How about us? Are we consistent in spending time in the Word of God, in prayer, and in fellowship with Him? We need the consistency of His Holy Spirit, His presence, and His Word to give us direction, health in our spiritual lives, and to keep us refreshed spiritually.
4. Light is a necessary requirement for plants to live.
Light provides growth. It protects against dangers to plants, such as molds. It gives guidance to the little plants below the surface so they know in which direction to grow. It encourages blooms to unfurl, and blooms instinctively know to open in the direction of the sun. Light also reveals and gives definition. I believe the best analogy to light is that of God’s Word and His Presence as revealed in His Word.
- God’s Word protects against dangers.
- God’s Word gives guidance and shows us how we are to grow.
- God’s Word reveals truth.
- God’s Word defines what our new natures and its attributes should look like as His children.
- God’s Word encourages spiritual growth in our lives.
- God’s Word encourages us to grow in the “direction” of our Heavenly Father, as revealed in His Word.
5. Weeding is another necessary but arduous task in the life of a gardener and for the protection of the plants. Otherwise, flowers can be “choked out.”
Weeding is definitely my least favorite task when it comes to caring for my plants. It is probably just as equally challenging to allow the “weeds” in my own life and in the lives of my children to be dealt with. We all want to enjoy the blooms, but the weeding…? It’s work, plain and simple work. There isn’t an obvious, immediate reward for it, but it’s necessary for the plant’s survival.
- When weeds are left to grow, unchecked, they very soon can block out the light of the sun from the plant.
- Weeds can also distract others from the seeing the beauty of the flowers.
- Weeds can also soak up the soil’s nutrients and water that is meant for the flower.
“Weeding” out the “weeds” in our own lives is necessary for the abundant life we were meant to live to continue.
6. Weeds often look a lot like flowers.
Not necessary a deep statement, but oh, is it true. How many times do we see weeds growing closely to a flower that has a similar leaf structure? For those not as expert in their knowledge of the varieties of flowers and of their individual characteristics, it can be easy to be fooled. Before long, the weeds have taken over the garden. The lessons to be learned are:
- The weeds or lies often closely resemble the truth or real flower — that’s why they are easily accepted.
- Study to understand the characteristics of flowers so you can distinguish the difference between the real flower and the weed. (Know what the truth is, what real spiritual fruit looks like so you can recognize the false counterpart.)
7. Weed frequently because young weeds and a few weeds are easier to pull than an overgrowth.
Don’t overlook the little compromises in your life. Those little sins can soon produce an entire harvest of shame and destruction in your own life and in the lives of others. As the Bible says, “… the little foxes spoil the grapes.”
Grace In The Moment 