I love spring gardening season! I love the first unfurling leaves of the violet, the fountain of forsythia appearing, the first tip of the tulip, the first iris, the first rosebud! I look forward to the warm weather which draws me outside. Working in my garden is my therapy. I get rid of my depression with every weed I pull. I think through the puzzles of my life as I dig up the soil. I talk to the Lord as I dig and plant and weed.
I think my love for gardening is a reflection of the Father's love for gardens. He was the very first gardener, you know. He planted a garden just after He made man according to Genesis 2. He made the garden for Adam and Eve to cultivate, before the rebellion of that first man and woman, before the thorns and thistles and weeds came. (An aside: I kind of like pulling those weeds out of my flower beds, though I know it will never go back to the pristine garden of Eden or even close.)
Let me go back to God as the gardener. In John 15 Jesus said, “I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.” God Himself is the farmer, the gardener. Jesus is the true vine which God is tending and we are the branches of that true vine. That’s a pretty exciting position we hold.
If the branch does not bear fruit, God prunes it so it will bear more fruit. Last week when I planted my tomatoes I intentionally broke off the lower branches so that the upper ones would grow stronger and healthier. I wonder what things God is pruning, cutting from my life so I will be healthier spiritually and bear more fruit. I think without too much effort I could name some things in my life that either God has already pruned from my life or needs to. (I’m not going to tell you what I think those things are! You tend to your own list!) I will tell you, however, that I will grit my teeth and welcome His pruning if only I can be more fruitful for Him. I grit my teeth because pruning is painful. It hurts unless the branch is already dead.
Jesus then turns toward the branch remaining connected to the vine. “Abide in Me. . . As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)
So how do we abide in the Vine? John 15:10 says we should keep His commandments to abide in His love. What are those commandments? Matthew 22:38 and 39 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The first one has no questions associated with it, I would think: love God with all of my heart, soul, mind. What else is there? He must have first place. And the second one, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If I love my neighbor, I will not steal, lie, envy, commit adultery, or transgress against my neighbor in any way. So the first way to abide in Him is to keep His commandments.
The second way to abide in Him is to communicate with Him. If I were to ignore Him, go weeks, days, even hours or minutes without communicating with Him, I would have dried up on the vine. So I must talk to Him. I Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray without ceasing.” I do not think this means a constant jabber, but rather recognizing that communication can be silent. In fact, the better I know the one I am communicating with, the more is expressed silently. But I must also verbalize to count as communication. I must tell Him how I feel, who I am burdened for, who I know needs Him. I must express my love for Him. So I will strive to communicate with Him all the time.
The other half of communication is letting Him speak to me through His Word. “If my words abide in you. . . .” Psalm 1, verse 2, says that the man is blessed whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Sometimes I don’t act as if I delight in His law. Sometimes I don’t meditate as I should. Poor communication for someone who spent her life teaching communication.
So here is my meditation on gardening. Back to John 15. Verse 8 says, “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” I want the Father to be glorified in me.
Lord, help me to be a good branch! Let my gardening point me to You.
~~Faith Himes Lamb
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