Seasons: Part 1 “The Garden”
We all know spring to be a beautiful time of year where flowers start to bloom, the grass turns green, and the wind starts to get warmer on your skin. There’s another part of spring, though, that I find a lot of people don’t talk about— the winter and early spring pruning that allows spring to bring forth its full potential of life. In order for new things to grow you must get rid of the old and dead things that have been dormant during the winter time.
Let’s start with the most obvious gardening example: weeding. A weed is a seed that is planted by an outside source. Although it can spring up looking like a pretty flower, in reality it’s a deadly plant that affects everything that is around it..Metaphorically speaking, the weeds in our lives could be a hurt or an offense. In every season we have to continue to prune the “garden” of our heart, so that the weeds don’t overtake the beauty that could grow inside of us.
Some weeds can grow so deep that they keep coming back year after year, or they are so embedded into the foundation that we need help. This is where community comes in. We need others to come and help us uproot these weeds that are in our lives in order to receive healing. This can look like others coming beside us in prayer, in deliverance ministry, counseling, or the Lord’s divine intervention.
Once the weeds have been pulled it’s important to not leave the soil like it is. You must put new soil that has vitamins and nutrients in it. This will help restore the ph balance within and around the soil. Then you can plant something beautiful where the weeds once grew. This is similar to how the Lord deals with our hearts. When He uproots the weeds in our lives, He never leaves us empty. He comes and fills us up with His love, His word, and His truth. That is how we will grow, and those around us will be affected by this change as well. Our lives are so parallel to nature and how a garden is either taken care of or neglected. No wonder gardens have been a part of our story since the beginning of time.
Take this season to reflect on your inner and outer garden. Where are there weeds growing that you see or haven’t wanted to address? Is it time to uproot them? Are you ready to let the Father uproot and heal those areas of your life? I pray that this spring, not only blooms brightly for you, but that everything that hinders love will truly be removed so you may flourish.
John 15:1–17
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”