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Our Spiritual Garden

by Jerry Ousley  
9/16/2011 / Christian Living

I never liked working in a garden very much. Oh, I dearly love the produce that comes from a garden but all that hoeing and weeding just makes me ache and pain. Since we've been married we've had a few gardens but not for several years. When we would put out a garden I've got to admit that Deb wound up doing most of the work because of my dislike. But she was quick to remind me about it when it came to eating those delicious green beans, tomatoes and potatoes, and rightly so.

I like to blame my dislike on the fact that when I was a child I had hay fever really bad, although this became a convenient scape-goat. I'd get out in a garden or around a field that was high in pollen content, especially during harvest time in the late summer and early fall, and I'd nearly sneeze my head off. My nose would begin running and my eyes got watery. Of course I tried to ignore my condition when I was at play. I remember one time that my brother, cousin and I were playing hide and seek in a field of soy beans next to our house. We'd dive right down into those vines hiding from each other. When we'd be discovered then we'd run like a wild man trying to get away. I paid for that day I paid dearly! After coming out of the field I encountered such a hay fever attack that I spent the rest of the day in bed! Like I said, I tended to ignore it when I was at play; but I was quick to remind my Mom and Dad when it came to working out in the garden. Sometimes it worked but sometimes it didn't.

One year Dad planted a garden in an open area across the road from where we lived. It was a narrow stretch perhaps twenty or thirty feet wide, but it went way down the road. He got permission from the owner to plow it up and plant a garden in it. He planted short rows across the garden instead of long continuous rows. I've heard my wife talk about how her Dad would plant long rows and it would seem like forever trying to get to the end of them. Those short rows didn't take long to get through but man there were a lot of those short rows! It seemed you'd never find the last one. So I'm not certain which was worse; a few long endless rows or an endless amount of short rows!

Jesus spent a lot of time in gardens. We're told that He frequented the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. It was there that He spent part of His last evening before the crucifixion praying earnestly about what was coming. He prayed so intensely that the Bible tells us that the perspiration falling from His head was like great drops of blood. Thank God that He won the victory in that garden. Because of His victory He paid the death penalty for the sin of the world then was resurrected to bring new life to all those who come to Him.

We are working in a spiritual garden. We are continually planting and reaping from it. While we all have a variety of fruit and vegetables that are unique to our own character and salvation experience, there are twelve rows of produce that each of us should include in our spiritual garden.

First we need three rows of squash. The first is to squash indifference. We must guard against growing hard in our spiritual experience. We don't want to be cold hearted toward others. Second we need to squash criticism. There is a good criticism and we must learn to recognize it and receive it. But we also must be careful how we deal out criticism. Are we acting on the will of God or are we bad-mouthing others? Then we also need a row to squash gossip. Talking about someone else is usually never good.

We also need four rows of turnips. We turn up with other Christians because we are a social creature and need the fellowship and support of others and they need us. We must turn up with a smile. A smile if very infectious; ninety percent of people will smile back if we smile at them. We should turn up with those who need to come to Christ. We must be careful what we agree with but how can we win the lost if we aren't found with them? Then we also turn up with our Bibles. That's the fertilizer to help our garden grow.

Finally we need five rows of lettuce. Let us love one another. Let us welcome and be kind to strangers. Let us be faithful in our duty to God. Let us worship our Lord in spirit and in truth. And let us give into the Kingdom by helping others. When we include these twelve rows then they will serve to enhance the rest of our spiritual garden and we are sure to reap a bountiful crop!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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