I love my garden! It’s not huge but it is colourful and this year even productive! We have enjoyed lettuce, courgettes and beetroot from it this year and i’m eagerly waiting for my first raspberry!
But i’m not very knowledgeable about plants, what grows best where, how and when to prune etc.
I was deadheading (removing the flowers that are over so that more will come) this beautiful Cape Daisy. You can see there are flowers on it that are passed their best, other beautiful flowers and some buds yet to bloom.
A good gardener doesn’t randomly cut things back. They know the plant, they know what it is capable of becoming, and they know that pruning is part of flourishing, not evidence that something has gone wrong. Similarly the God who designed and created me does not randomly hurt me or remove things from my life! He knows me, He loves me, He sees my potential, He sees the bigger picture! The parts that I would cling on to, even though they are not for me in this season. He recognises the areas where my faith is flourishing and He will prune me, even in good areas so that I may be increasingly fruitful. He designed and created me and even in suffering, He is able to work within and through what we experience, yes even the pruning (anything from a gentle no right through to the debilitating illness I had for so many years).
The great thing our faith life with Jesus as compared to gardening is that He asks me to ABIDE in Him. Whilst the gardener will select the right soil and feed, make sure it gets enough light/sun and even prune for better growth – the life force of the plant is not attached to the gardener. Not only has God said i am fearfully and wonderfully made and that He knows me, He lives in me!
🙏 Lord, teach me to abide in You. Help me to be fruitful for your glory. Amen
AngeLisa Crafts 