if your heart was a garden
photo by pexels-mibernaa
If your heart was a garden, how would it look?
I encourage you to pause… Think about this question and answer honestly. “If your heart was a garden, how would it look?” Maybe draw a picture to illustrate the condition of your heart garden. You could also write down a few words to describe it, or sit quietly and ponder…
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” - Proverbs 4:23 NIVMy encouragement today is to simply notice and pay attention to the garden of your heart. It is easy to ignore or distract ourselves from things we don’t want to see; hardness, thorns, worries, fears, the love of other things. On the other hand, we might become so accustomed to fulfilled promises, that we lose sight of beautiful flowers grown from seeds sown in tears. What if we quiet our souls long enough to invite God into the good, the bad, and the ugly? What if we allow His presence to infuse hope like water into dry ground? What if we actually did what I am suggesting in this post?
Take a moment before continuing, and talk with the Lord about the condition of your heart. Invite Him into it, and please, do not pray heady prayers to impress. Just talk with Lord as with a Friend who is there, with you, surveying your garden.
Lord, I bring you my heart…. (talk with Him now in your own words)
Friend, I am convinced this type of conversation pleases the Lord. He never called us to be perfect in our own strength. Our job is to walk in close relationship with God. As we do, the seeds of His words grow, and His presence moistens our soil. He even has “Miracle Grow” fertilizer.
“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." - John 15:5 NIVLord, I am asking You to work within all who are reading. Help us become more purposeful and intentional to guard our hearts on a daily basis. Ultimately, You are the vine and we are the branches. It is You who causes the growth of all things good. I also know You will not go against our will, so help us trust and yield. Amen
“You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
“He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
“Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”