Gardening 101

For 26 years Danny and I have had an unspoken deal.  The inside of the house is my responsibility for the most part and the outside is his.  So the general upkeep of the yard, care of the pool (when we had one), taking out of the garbage...all his.  The great part of the deal is that he has always helped me inside with the general upkeep of the inside household stuff too.  I, however, have never really helped him outside except to follow him around talking at him while he gardened or cleaned the pool.  He loves that ;) He has tried to get me to help but it's never worked.

But recently something changed.  I was outside on my porch and I noticed a bunch of weeds in my garden and without really thinking about it I went down and started pulling them out.  I was getting so much satisfaction from seeing it all cleaned up that before I knew it I was out there for over a hour.  

While I was out there Danny brought me a glass of iced tea. A few minutes later he brought me out some gardening gloves and cute little shovel to help with the tough weeds.  The next thing I know he had brought the ipod outside and he was playing music for me - all my favorites. After he brought out a kneeling pad so I wouldn't hurt my knees I realized why he was being so attentive!  Poor guy...he's waiting 26 years for this! He told me he wanted to encourage this behavior!!

Anyway, a strange thing happened after that day.  Every time I walk up my walkway now I notice the state of my garden.   It's like a light went on.  One day recently I noticed a vast difference between two of the same plants that I have on either side of my walkway.   One of them was noticeably thriving while the other paled in comparison. When I looked closely at the leaves of the struggling plant I saw that there were holes all over them.  I went inside to "google" the possible causes of these holes and discovered that most likely caterpillars were eating them.  What I read jumped out at me. 

The article stated that while this particular plant is under attack it will stop flowering. 

I realized immediately that the reason the plant looked so pale in comparison to the other one is that the flowers had closed up and no new flowers had sprouted.

As soon as I read that I recognized a parallel to my own life. When I am under attack whether it be flesh and blood or the enemy of my mind and soul - I stop flowering.  Creativity shuts down.  I want to withdraw and hide.  My confidence is ebbed away at and I begin to wilt.  It doesn't usually happen overnight either.  My plant did not get invaded overnight.  One caterpillar crawled up and began chewing away...one self-deprecating thought enters my mind and starts to eat away at my confidence. Then another caterpillar came and joined in...I begin comparing myself to someone else that I think has it all together.  Before I even had a chance to notice there was a caterpillar feast going on in my front yard...  Before I know it I am being bombarded by thoughts of inadequacy and self-doubt.  Something has to be done - it's called pesticide!!

As soon as I was onto the caterpillar caper I pulled out the arsenal.  I sprayed the plant and within minutes the caterpillars were curling up and dropping off!  What amazed me was that within just a few days I noticed a huge difference in the appearance of the plant and I was thrilled to see little flowers sprouting all over it again.  All it took was me realizing that the attack was underway and then pulling out what I needed to put an end to it.

You may be under attack by flesh and blood in which case I don't recommend dousing them with pesticide (although that may sound like a good idea to you right now.) Or your attack may be in your mind and spirit but either way you must remember this - our battle is not against flesh and blood.  Your adversary (the stinkin' devil) works very hard to stop you from flowering.  It's his full time job. You and only you must be diligent about tending the garden of your mind and heart.  And by the way as soon as I got rid of the caterpillars a few weeks later I noticed these little teensy tiny bugs on the leaves - all over the same plant! But I am ON IT.  I am more determined than ever to keep this pretty plant flowering!

2 Corinthians 2: 3-5
It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

That's your pesticide. I want to encourage you to be an attentive gardener of your mind. Be on alert for those destructive thoughts that creep in and take them captive. Pull out the arsenal when you need to and blast them!!

I want to see you flourishing ~ hearty and healthy ~ bursting with flowers!!!