Soul Tending:

                     The verdict is officially in.    I am getting old!  I never thought I would relish quiet and solitude as much as I have recently.  The leisurely days of summer have completely ruined me.  The speed of the school year has given way to a Mayberry pace and I love it!

  I find myself going outside every morning to check on my flower garden.  I get up early, venture outdoors, and drink my coffee before the girls get up. I check on my flowers, pull some weeds, walk around and sit with the dog on the deck.

         My girls are aware of my ritual during the summer. They are used to my quirky routine.  I guess they are watching though, because Lindsey made a grand announcement this year that she too would have a garden!

 Lindsey decided that she wanted to plant a “food garden “.  Her Sunday school teacher brought her some butterbeans and she was hooked (thanks Mr. Ben).

She had to have a garden!

We spent days cultivating the soil.  We worked diligently on making sure that the dirt was ready to receive the seeds, and then we planted our treasures. We planted tomatoes, cabbages, strawberries, butter beans, carrots, watermelon.

 I am not a farmer.  I will not even pretend. She wanted it, and I will do anything for my Lindsey.

We worked all day planting.  We had a great time making signs and planning our little piece of paradise.  We talked about our harvest and what we would cook.  We had such a wonderful experience. No TV, no distractions. Totally focused on our task.  Just me and  my Lindz

That day was a good day.

Then the inevitable happened, it got hot here in the great state of Alabama.  She no longer wanted to work in the garden.  The garden was WAY up at the top of the hill (about 90 feet) and the walk was just not convenient anymore.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I saved the little garden.  If truth was to be told, I had the same sentiment.  I really did want the harvest, but I didn’t want to do the work.

Our little garden looks like a wasteland right about now.  The sun has completely fried anything that tried to grow.  There was this one little tiny tomato that was shriveled on the vine.

The little row markers Lindsey made looked like headstones in a cemetery.

 Everything is dead.  Weeds are the only thing that survived.

Weird, you can put so much time and energy into something wonderful, but when conditions change, you neglect it. All that hard work preparing the soil, all that time and energy planting things that if given the right conditions could have grown to produce beautiful harvest.   All that work…. ruined because we lost our focus. We got so caught up in the conditions of the day, that we missed opportunities to cultivate a harvest.

Now I bet you are wondering about my flowers.  Well, I cheat. My flowers are on my deck.  They are no more than 10 feet from my back door.  There is no distance or effort involved in my flowers.  They are constantly in front of me, constantly being checked on or even tripped over.  They are right there in my line or view daily.

The reason my flowers grew and her garden died…. simple:

It just wasn’t important.  It just wasn’t easy or convenient.  We had not tended to it, and the only thing that grew was the weeds.

  They choked out everything else.

         Last week while I was outside,   I was sitting out on the deck, and I began asking God why He seemed so far away.

He took me up to our garden.   His answer was pretty clear  …. “Your heart looks a lot like this garden.  There are things that shouldn’t be there that are choking out anything there that is supposed to be growing.    Yes, I am God , but I will not going to compete for your attention.   You let other things choke out time with me…  even seemingly good and important things.” 

I have found that I can even let the things of God choke out the presence and voice of God. I can get so busy with the activities and events that seem good and noble that I miss it.

 The message……right there in the dust:

If you want the spiritual harvest your soul craves, you are going to have to put in the work.  Just like a garden will not grow without you carefully inspecting it daily, your heart and faith won’t grow without you giving it due attention. 

There it was! 

You will have to get dirty, sweat a little, get uncomfortable, wait,  WORK!   If you want the desired end result, it may not be easy, but it will be worth it.  When it is harvest time, you will have more than enough for what you need and then you can share what you have with others.

I guess if we are honest, we could all use a little more soul tending.   I know I need to take the time to slow down.  To let the world go.    I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t fall prey to this. We all need to be careful about the things that distract or invade.   

 I am finding this summer that I need to weed out my heart. I need to work and tend and watch things grow.   I need to monitor and carefully inspect what comes out.  It is not just about me, others might benefit one day from the work I  SHOULD BE doing now.  I have decided that it is time to get started again.  It is time to  take care of my garden, I have to…...

 my girls are watching..