Gardens

A Landscape of Hope!

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

But I say, love your enemies!Pray for those who persecute you! Matthew 5:44 NLT  

This morning Deandra who writes Imago Dei on WordPress got me thinking about the issue of complaining. (I have done more than my fair share) and how it affects our lives and my initial comment on her blog led me to an entire post. So thank you Deandra and here is my story of hope for complainers like me. The link to her post is here…

https://deandrahurst.com/2020/07/09/a-thankless-job-part-2/

Back when I worked as an apprentice landscaper I had a boss named Al who specialized in making me crazy. When I struggled making a straight line on the edge of a flower bed   he’d say, “That looks like a dog’s breakfast!” Or he’d take a look at the bush I had just trimmed, snatch the tool from my hand and re-trim it then give the tool back and ask; “What are you Polish?”

One night when I was bringing my complaint session about Al home to my wife, God began to convict my heart that I needed to be praying instead of griping. Even though I wasn’t a bit excited about the idea I knew it was the right thing to do. So I began with short prayers like, “Bless Al and his family.”  Now it would be great to say that immediately things got better; but the reality was that at first I just didn’t get so mad about his remarks. Also my own attitude started changing and I began to try harder to improve my work.

The best day happened some months later when just Al and I were working together on a job out in the country. At noon Al glanced at his watch and said “Go ahead and take lunch. I’m just going to keep working.” So I sat down on a big rock and opened my lunch pail and saw an entire loaf of my wife’s home made zucchini bread. “Hey Al, don’t you have anything to eat?” I asked. “Don’t worry I‘ll get something later.”  “Hey, at least take five minutes and try some of my wife’s home made zucchini bread.” I insisted. It didn’t take much to convince him to sit down and try a sample. “Wow! That’s amazing!” he mumbled between bites as I shared my extra bottle of water with him to wash it down. My life wasn’t perfect after that lunch, but breaking bread with Al gave me hope. I had hope because I saw that God cares about changing tough circumstances and difficult people. I knew it- because he changed me. Now that’s a landscape of hope!

Our Garden Waves Good-bye

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We love our new home in Florida and this was the right time in our lives to come here, but I do miss our garden. This tropical climate and gray sandy soil leave me wishing for real honest brown dirt where I grew my tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. This week I know that back home we would be counting the days till the first frost on the mountain  and wishing Summer could last just a bit longer. This little poem recalls those days and I hope will put a smile on your face as well.

Imported from phone 857

Then Our Garden Waves Good-bye

While Tomatoes bow their frost tipped brows

 Mrs. Broccoli gently smiles

Mr. Green beans starts to shed his leaves

And Old Zucchini lies in piles

The Corn folks stiffly shake their stalks

And the Pumpkins wait for pie

Hot Peppers dream of summer walks

Then our Garden waves good-bye

Where Jesus is Waiting

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 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”       John 9:35 ESV

In thinking think about becoming almost all of us would say that we need to begin with taking time to meet with Jesus. While an early morning prayer or an hour on our knees is part of that, it is not the only thing that makes us a disciple.

In fact our greatest hope is not in our choosing to meet with Jesus but in His choosing to meet with us. If that seems strange maybe it will help you to think about it like being in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. We come in, sign our name and then we sit and watch wait for our name to be called. We cannot just decide to barge in and demand to be next. We only get to go in when the doctor is ready.

The good news for us is that our Doctor Jesus is always ready. In fact before we showed up at the clinic he was looking out the window waiting for us to come. Doctor Jesus has our diagnosis, our treatment and our plan for recovery completely prepared before we ever come. So picture your prayer time as if you were the blind man when he got thrown out of the leader’s meeting: Jesus was already standing outside waiting for him! Jesus is outside your noisy, confusing and often hurtful world waiting to meet with you. Being His disciple just means joyfully expecting to spend time with Him. He is already waiting for you in the garden. Will you join Him today there for prayer?