Tag Archives: GARDEN

The Need To Produce

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Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com

“For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations”

Isaiah 61:11

I was outside looking at some of my flower trees within my garden and I could start to see little green buds on some of them and some of them you couldn’t see anything. I noticed that the ones that didn’t have any new buds on them had dead flower pulps at the end of their limbs.

Yesterday, I was outside in my garden and my neighbor came over and said, “You have to take these dead parts off, as it is still trying to send energy to a dead source.” As I was outside today, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I started removing all the dead pieces off the ones that weren’t producing new buds.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

Hebrews 12:1

Have you ever felt a heaviness on you? Not a heaviness that comes from someone who we knew has passed or even the fear and doubt that we sometimes may feel. But like a weight that has come from other people or things that have been physically gone, yet the are spiritually still connected. They could still be in your life and they are nothing but a dead weight that continues to hold you back from producing the things in which God has called you too.

Maybe your lack of being able to produce is because you keep sending your energy to a dead source. It isn’t producing life, but continues to weigh you down, drain your energy, slow down your progress, causing you to go numb, making you feel lifeless because you are dying on the inside.

It is up to us to let go of those people or things that are no longer producing fruit in our life. Letting go of those things, whether bad thoughts, wrong desires, bad habits that continue to add poison and toxins to our bodies. We have to be willing to release the negative energy and cultivate a positive space so that we attract positive energy back into our lives.

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth shall ye not know it. I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”

Isaiah 43:9

My prayer for you today, is that during this time of quarantine you would have the courage to cut off and cut out those dead parts in your life. And as God begins to heal those places, that you would be able to experience the newness of life and fully be able to produce the very things that have been lying dormant within you. And as those dormant places begin to come to life, that they will produce a harvest in its season.

Song List

Just For Me by Kirk Franklin https://youtu.be/TD3zS_GxS3M

Lyrics

Just for me
Many doors you’ve closed
Just for me
Sometimes you will say no
So I’ll be
Tested in your fire
To purify my desires
So my blessings won’t be
Just for me
So caught up in myself
I couldn’t see
The world did not revolve around me
So storms are in your will
So I can feel what others feel their needs, if I could speak honestly

It don’t feel good
But growing never does
It don’t seem fair
For you to call this love
But if necessary pain
Is the ingredient for change

Even when life may be bittersweet
It’s working

Just for me
All the moments I missed
That were just for me
Because I chose not to
Wait patiently
Before every mistake
Was the same amount of grace
That kept my blessing waiting


Just for me
But trust in your timing is not easy
And what I want’s not always what I need, Somewhere I forgot
You are God and I am not
I see, if I could speak honestly, It don’t feel good
But growing never does
It don’t seem fair
For you to call this love, But if necessary pain
Is the ingredient for change
Even when life may be bittersweet 

Turn Around Tuesday

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image

Galatians 6:7
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”

2 years ago I had moved into my new home and I was given 12  Rose of Sharon to plant. I have never been much of a gardener, but I was now having to learn how. Being new at this I wasn’t really sure of what I was doing or how to even care for a plant let alone a garden. So I took the  instructions and the advice that I was given from others and decided to give it a try. I have found it to be very rewarding, fulling, and therapeutic even while  “In The Garden” as there has been so much that I have learned. It was a critical time in this season as spring was fastly approaching it’s end and waiting to see if they would even survive through the winter praying I would do right by them. When planting it has a lot to do with how you plant and where you plant them. Are they planted in good ground, planted in the right area, is it the right type of soil or environment for them?  Is there enough or too much sunlight, ext. These Rose of Sharon were partially grown with roots already so they were transitioning to a different location into a new source. I continued to follow the instructions that I was given which was to water them every other day unless we received a lot of rain and even if I didn’t see any evidence of life to not give up on them just yet. I continued this process until it was too cold for me to do so and I just prayed that they would survive through the winter season. Around spring as I was going around to check on them I noticed there were leaves growing on them, signs of new life. I was surprised that even though I planted all 12 of them at the same time that none of them looked the same in height nor in color. You can plant several of the same things  and they still not produce at the same time and what it produces can be different in size even when it’s of the same kind, but it doesn’t  cause it to loose it’s value in what it will produce. To everything there is direct timing and season. I was excited as one of them that I planted on the side of the house which was also the biggest of them all had started producing buds where I could even see the color that it would bloom. It made me wonder about the other one’s as some seemed to be slower than others. A couple of them I had accidentally cut while I was cutting my grass and I was devistated. They were having to some what start over and not knowing if they would even flourish again. Something in me said to keep watering them because they were only cut from the surface and the roots were still planted firmly in the ground. Just because you don’t see any evidence of life on the surface doesn’t mean that their isn’t anything growing under the ground. Some of the greatest things are produced in a dark place. Give it sometime to be produced. Eventually I began to see life again. Every seed sown will produce a harvest in it’s due season. It never produces what has been planted in the ground, but it increases in size. Good or bad you will reap a harvest of whatever seed has been sown. If you don’t want to see anything produced in the future be careful of the seeds that you plant into the ground.

They Are Depending On Us

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The other day I was going out to water my plants and some of the neighborhood kids came around me like flies asking could they help me.

I have been out here several times and have never had that happen. When I am in my garden this is normally part of my meditation time with God and to be honest I was needing that time, but I saw this as an opportunity to minister by way of help. I put my needs aside and humbled myself before God so that he could use me in that moment. So as I began to let them take turns some of them would try to spray the others, drink the water or play with it and I would have to guide them back to focus on what they were suppose to be doing while still having fun. It was a very simple task and I realize it probably had a lot to do with it being water, but the excitement and the energy they displayed in wanting to help made it hard to resist. My next door neighbor said if they are bothering you, you can send them back. I responded that they weren’t a bother. You know I love the kids and I will get them if I need to. Lol, he said please do. Two of the kids I had known since they were babies, but only one of them remembered me and she gave me a hug. She is 8 years old, boy do I feel old. As we completed the task together I told them thank you for helping me and they said you welcome with big smiles on their  faces and then they ran away. My heart was filled with joy, now that I miss. Back at my old church I worked with the Youth Ministry and they have always been one of my passions. Though I don’t deal with them in a great capacity as I did then I realize that was my teaching ground for what is to come and I try to be open to what he is doing now. The words that Jesus spoke are  so important as it gives us our direction, but I believe his greatest impact in his ministry was what he did. When I reflected back on it God showed me how I ministered to them at that moment. 1. You showed them how to serve 2. You gave them opportunity 3. You gave them direction along the way 4. You showed them love by allowing them to come in your space and with a cheerful heart 5. You showed them appreciation 6. They went away filled 7. You were ministered back to you. WOW! I was blown away. That happened within maybe 15-20 mins. We can sometimes make ministry so hard and really it’s that simple. I thank God for being humble enough and open to what he was trying to do in that moment. Although I may never know the impact that one moment may make on their lives, but Ican only image the thought if I would have turned them away.  It still takes a village. Don’t be so caught up in the former glory that you miss out on what God is trying to do through you now. He’s coming another way.

What’s In Your Garden

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Mary, Mary quite contrary, tell me how does your garden grow?

I’m finally starting to see some life being produced from my garden. Something’s were planted last year and something’s a couple of months ago. Every seed that is sown doesn’t produce at the same time. They each have their own time in which you will see evidence. Some of them I never noticed they had grown until oneday I happened to look in that direction and said, “Now where did that come from all of a sudden”. I never even watered it, but it still has grown and is strong. Some of them I have had to water every other day so the roots can set beneath the soil. The fact that the buds are beginning to blossom means that it’s working. It’s going to take a lot of work, but anything worth having is worth the time, energy and investment in order for it to grow and then doing what it takes to maintain it so it will stay healthy and continue to grow strong.In your garden you will sometimes produce seeds that you didn’t sow for. I realized that when cutting my grass there are some weeds that are constantly growing. Though some of them are beautiful because they actually look like flowers if not cut off at the root they will spread and can be deadly to other things that I am growing. There are some seeds that have been planted that you need to keep, but you need to let it grow to maturity before uprooting and replanting so that it will survive. Good seeds produced in it’s proper season can be benefical. My daddy said that I have a couple of cherry trees growning. I said, “Well how do you know?” I can tell by it’s leaves. His advice was to keep watering and let them grow a little before replanting them. One plants, one waters, but God gives the increase. #CLEANTHISHOUSE