So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow… you are God’s field.  1 Corinthians 3:7 & 9 

This past Saturday Josh, Justin and I (the boys) cleaned up our yard and gardens at our house. We went at it with gusto and what a beautiful day it was- warm gentle breezes, a deep blue sky with cotton ball clouds. Never too early to start working on that base tan! 

But our yard? What a mess! Four months of neglect had really taken its toll. Twigs and tree branches, remnants of last season’s leaves and debris were scattered all over. The crushing weight of this year’s record snow fall wreaked havoc on the shrubs. We lost a cedar, a rhododendron and might have lost a crepe myrtle. We raked and trimmed and pruned and loaded… an entire pickup truck of stuff went over to the composting facility on Ballsford Road. 

Throughout the Bible the process of spiritual growth is often described in agricultural terms. In Psalm 1 believers are a tree planted by God’s life sustaining water. In John 15 we are grape branches gaining our strength and vitality from Christ the true vine. In 1 Corinthians 3 we are a field tended by God himself. As I systematically worked through my flower garden last weekend I was thinking about the garden of my life and wondering what God saw. From down here it sometimes looks a little weedy and unkempt (if you know what I mean)! 

I like what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3- “so neither he who plans or he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow…” For me, that kind of puts things in perspective. A gardner can clear, rake, prune, water, mulch and cultivate, but in the end she can’t make a rose bloom or an apple grow. God’s the one who does that. 

In William Young’s wildly imaginative book, The Shack, a man is brought into a garden that looks random, messy and chaotic, and yet strangely beautiful. God explains to the man that this garden represents his soul. The man is stunned and disappointed at the disorder, but God explains that the garden is a fractal garden- a garden of immensely complex repeating patterns only designed to be viewed from above. It looks confusing and messy from below but when viewed from above is a thing of almost incomprehensible beauty. 

As I worked along at my messy garden last Saturday, I also recommit my messy spiritual garden to the “One who makes all things grow.” You can trust that He is making something beautiful.