Lessons from the Garden -

Editor's note: Sometimes one of the hardest things we have to deal with in life is being content where we're planted. It is so easy to look back at some place in the past where we think life was better, or to look at someone else's life and think that it is better. It can be a real temptation to imagine, when things are hard, that we would do better in a different situation, a different location, different circumstances than where God has us.

 

A friend of mine was struggling with just such discontent when the Lord prompted her to think about this parable. She is not a gardening expert, so some of the flowers don't necessarily grow together normally, but I think you can still get the message.

 

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

 

 

Once upon a time, God planted lavender in a garden and she thrived. She grew and flourished and loved her neighbors - the beautiful smelling rosemary and the hydrangea with her giant purple blooms, much larger than her own. Each morning their master would come smell lavender and hydrangea and pick a few sprigs from rosemary for his meals. Daily, lavender, rosemary and hydrangea would talk of the ways of God and encourage each other to stand up tall, soak up the sun and be the best they could be to delight the God who planted them there and bring their master joy.

As lavender settled into this routine, she began to notice the plants in the field across the way.  It was much greener over there - a far contrast the the browns that surrounded her. The papyrus, marigold and blue iris were surrounded by deep greens and tall horsetail. What diverse colors they had! Surely she could plant herself in that field and serve God there - after all, they were all once together and so close. They were family whom she dearly missed each day of her life. She remembered vividly their beginnings long ago in the greenhouse and did not understand why God separated them.

The far field was lacking any lavender at all. She prayed for several years that God plant her in the green, busy, lush field arrayed with a rainbow of colors, but the only reply was silence which she did not understand.

Oh yes, daily she thanked God for the blessings here  - which she was well aware of, but she was consumed by longing for life with her old family in the far green field and how she might serve her Master there. Discontent began to grow within her until one day she decided she must uproot herself. She prayed the LORD would bless her move and she left her pot. She said a tearful goodbye as she tore herself away from her friends and ministry together standing tall in the sun and carried herself to the deep green field.

She found a beautiful pot and planted herself there. At first she was excited and consumed by the task of getting settled. She imagined life with her old friends and how they might stand tall in the sun for God’s glory together. She praised God for the green, lush grass. “Surely this is a place I can serve!” she thought… And she sighed a deep, happy sigh.

She looked out of her pot at the beautiful multitude of colors. Now it was time to say “hello” to her old friends and family! With excitement they greeted each other, shed tears, shared memories and hugged. However, she quickly found out that her friends and family from the greenhouse now were occupied with their Jesus jobs. They were already busy with serving God amidst the cloudy sky with meaningful work God designed just for them. 

Slowly she began to miss the company of her friends rosemary and hydrangea and she began to feel unwell. The wet soil did not suit her and there was no grit to anchor her roots. She tried supplementing with minerals suitable for lavender but the rains kept coming and washed them away. Her buds that were once a lovely lavender color became brown. “How could my buds be so hard despite all this rain?” she thought. Surely the moisture would make them moist too. Yet, she became more and more ill and then one day she began to wilt. She could no longer stand up straight for her God. She could feel herself dying and called out to God to rescue her as she was now too weak to walk back to her old home herself. She grew sleepier and sleepier until she fell in and out of consciousness not always even aware of her surroundings when she awoke. Day turned into night and back to day. Suddenly she felt the familiar hand of God carrying her!

Morning came. Still not completely awake, she felt the sun drying out her waterlogged roots and began to feel more like herself. She stretched out her weary roots and opened her eyes. She expected to see her old friends rosemary and hydrangea whom she missed dearly in the Lord. But this was a new place - blooming with lilac and gardenias and juniper. Yes, it was a lovely place that she would have to get to know. She felt lonely.

One day, her neighbor sweet pea invited her to church. Forsythia awakened all in the field singing beautiful hymns each morning. And so, over time, lavender learned to bloom again, stand up tall and praise the God who saved her.

The lesson became deeply embedded in her roots. Never again would she run ahead of her God. Only He knew what environment she needed. What seemed good to her may not be her calling. And with that, lavender began to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10) and she bloomed right where God planted her in the brown sand, and the sun and the grit.