Cabin fever has hit me hard. The prospect of another weekend without seeing my grandchildren is not something I’m looking forward to. The weather is nasty, with a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. And my cough won’t let up. I have to have something to brighten my thoughts. What better than a look back at my garden!
This is where we used to live when it was the four of us. We moved to Springfield in the spring of 1998. My husband was on a mission trip to Peru when I made a quick trip from Colorado Springs to look for a house. It’s a great story in itself how God orchestrated everything so that in less than a week I had the paperwork started to buy this house. My husband was in the jungle where I couldn’t reach him so I had to act in hopes that he would approve, and I knew he would, and he did.
Where the flowerbed is there was just a big pile of stones. My husband worked hard to clear it out and as you can see he put the stone all around. Then I took on the job of maintaining that flower bed. I loved it, and oh how I miss it! From this flowerbed I got my vision about spreading The Seed of Love. There is so much potential in a seed and so much potential in each human being. As I was going through some papers this evening I came across the following that I had scribbled a few months ago.
This is the message I want to spread. This is the reason why I keep this blog going. I want to sow words of encouragement. When Brianna was three years old I taught her a verse from the Bible that she came to regard as The Butterfly Verse: “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Ps 17:8). Why was that? “Because it has wings!” this precious jewel said.
Oh, to be a butterfly and gracefully fly from flower to flower on a bright summer day! If you hadn’t experienced spring, how could you even imagine such a wonderful thing on a dreadful and cold winter day? But we know that even if it gets bitter cold, Spring is coming! And from those tiny and seemingly insignificant seeds will grow something as beautiful as the flowers I had in my garden. And everybody has a seed of greatness inside of them. Be encouraged!
There are so many good things that will grow out of a seed. One of the Court Shows on television is with Judge Hatchet. Once in a while I watch it when I take a lunch break. She often has to deal with teenagers that are rebellious and she sends them off to a reality check; sometimes to a prison. When they come back to her courtroom they usually have opened their eyes to reality and she works out a deal so they can get help and counseling. She’ll tell them that she expects greatness. I like that! We need to expect greatness in ourselves and in others. With God’s help, there is no telling what great things we will accomplish.
To round this off, let me give you an example of a spiritual garden. This was printed in the bulletin at church.
A SPIRITUAL GARDEN
Plant 6 rows of peas:
Pardon
Preparedness
Perseverance
Patience
Promptness
Politeness
Plant 6 rows of lettuce:
Let us be faithful
Let us be unselfish
Let us be loyal
Let us love one another
Let us be truthful
Let us read our Bible
Plant 4 rows of squash:
Squash criticism
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash laziness
No garden is complete without turnips:
Turn up for prayer meeting
Turn up with real concern
Turn up with testimony
Turn up with a smile
Turn up with a willing spirit
Turn up with encouragement
There is something that I had in my garden, a delicious herb to spice up the cooking. For my Swedish friends I’ll say we loved it when we could have “dill kött” (dill stew) with dill picked right out of our garden. No spiritual garden is complete without some dill. Let’s be diligent and serve the Lord with diligence.
Thanks for the chat. I feel much better now and I know I’ll make it fine through the weekend. Remember, there are seeds of greatness in everybody. Some may be hidden way inside, but with loving care they will sprout and grow. I can’t wait for spring so I can plant some seeds, even if it’s only in a flower pot. But most important are the seeds of love I can plant in somebody’s life, which will sprout and grow for eternal life.
Kerstin Lundquist's Blog 