Two Gardeners

I have a large garden, far too large for me, especially since my husband died, and I would struggle to maintain it but for some help. I have recently had two different helpers, one who came for a short while, not really knowing very much about gardening but able to tidy up a bit – mainly by taking the tops off the weeds, which of course grew again! – and now another who really knows what she is doing. The difference is amazing. Suddenly the flowerbeds look tidy and have proper edges again, the bushes are neatly pruned instead of being untidy and overgrown, and the weeds have disappeared, at least until next year.

This is rather like the pruning job that our Father wants to do with us. We tend to like a gentle tidy-up, one that doesn’t necessarily get down to the roots of the problem, so after a while the same problems or behaviour patterns crop up again. But if we truly surrender ourselves to the heavenly Gardener, the pruning may be painful, it often is, but it’s more satisfactory and longer lasting.

Are we prepared to allow the Holy Spirit to come into those deep areas, which we don’t really like to admit to ourselves, to deal with the roots of pain and rejection from the past, those buried hurts that still cause us to react in ways we don’t like? It takes a great deal of trust and surrender on a daily basis.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that You care so much for me that You want to deal with all the deep things in my life, which hold me back in my walk with You. Please give me the courage to allow You to deal with those roots. In Jesus’ name, Amen.