The Garden

At the end of each lively summer autumn begins to put the beautiful flowers of spring and summer to sleep and any gardener knows nature needs a little help to clean things up and get things ready for the long winter nap.

 I love fall clean up. It is a time to dig out the bulbs that grew in the spring and separate them and move them apart getting them ready to grew bigger, more fuller blossoms for next year. Threw the summer many bulbs have started new bulbs and now I will have twice as many tulips and daffodils in the spring.  I love how they grow and start new growth and spread their beauty in a truly non-invasive way.

Another job for the flower gardener is to cut back the perennial flowers, sometimes digging them out and moving them about. It seems so harsh! But I know that this stress on the plant in the fall will ensure that it is stronger and able to give off a better blossom in the spring and summer.  All year long I water and add nutrients to the soil or tend to the garden in some way. Some tasks are less harsh like pulling weeds and killing insects or diseases. Some tasks bring immediate pleasure and comfort to the plant like adding vital nutrients to the soil to help it grow or cause less stress on the roots and providing needed water. I also like to think that my talking to them and singing makes them feel happy and content, but admittedly, that is kinda weird. Some tasks are down right mean, like ripping out sections and cutting back branches or digging up and separating plants that are clinging to one another - the is the work that must be done in the fall. But no matter how gentle or harsh, each task is done by a loving gardener who truly knows best. No task is ever meant to harm or cause pain; the desires and intent of the gardener is only and always to lift, strengthen, guide and help the plant to grow to its full potential.

There isn't a day in my garden when I don't see the obvious parallel between the way I tend my garden and the way a loving Father in Heaven tends and cares for his children.

In God's garden we are the beautiful flowers, bushes, perennials, bulbs, trees and all other vegetation.  We are varied and unique in our personalities, looks and needs and we all come together to create a majestic and glorious garden. The variety is what makes His garden so beautiful and perfect. Each plant taking an important roll and supporting each other. Of course, looking beautiful in the garden during the summer is the easy part but it can't be the only part. Fall and winter must come. God, our loving gardener, must dig and pull and rip and tear, moving us about so that we are strong enough, prepared and ready to become the beautiful person we were meant to be in the season He needs us to become it. No one likes the pain, but be assured, summer will come again and He will provided nutrients and water, beautiful calming moments that give us the respite, time to grow and time to shine. He is the provider of all that is good and in His goodness he will make all the pain work for our benefit. turn to him and trust in Him. He is creating a beautiful garden of which you are a vital part!