Planting

I am often impacted by the number of analogies that I draw from gardening.

Roots: It's important to plant roots in the places you live, for one month or for years. Why?  It grounds you, it helps you to feel secure for that time, it helps you to grow so when you are transplanted, you have extra reserve from those roots to carry you forward.

Children:  If you have lots of children part of your daily life, you will undoubtedly have too much of something in one place and not enough in another.  Like 10 baby red cabbages coming up from the same hole.  Anyone can make this mistake because we secretly don't believe that a cabbage will come out of that tiny little seed, so we better plant extra.  Forgetting that the potential is in the seed, not in what you can see in the seed.  I need to give each of my children space and grace to grow in their own little style, and encourage them to do the same for others. 

Transplanting: 10 little red cabbages just can't grow in the same place.  They need to have their own fertilizer, soil, air, space, and sunshine. Transplanting is necessary.  Maybe that's why God brought me to Cameroon, then to Nigeria...I was where someone else needed to be, and in turn, God was letting me bear fruit in my new space.

Weeds:
Carpet grass is not welcome in my garden, but the fact is, it grows very well...better than anything else.  Negative thoughts, bad attitudes, and sin are not welcome in my heart, but they grow anyway, and without any attention, they will spread their little runners under the ground where they are unnoticed.  When the weed does show it's ugly head, it needs to not only be plucked out, but the entire root system with it.  Confession, repentance, and continual care is what the heart needs to grow good fruit!  Wow, it's a lot of work.

 Getting Dirty:
Nothing good comes from sitting on the side of the garden and hoping something will grow from the dirt.  We always put on our planting clothes, Mariama in her red suspenders and I in my Thai trousers, and we get dirty! In our spiritual lives, nothing comes from sitting passively in pews, living rooms, or conferences.  We need the "agon" in our deeper persons to go out and dig, plant, water, weed, and harvest.  Lately for us "getting dirty" has been putting our new prayer room to good use, realizing that the tiredness  or discouragement we feel needs to be addressed in the inner room...the quiet place with God.

Please pray for Daso as she's home visiting her family until September when she'll return for her second school year with us.  May she keep growing spiritually, and may we create an environment where she can sink the roots of her heart into God's love. 

Pray for Falaka, Daso's mom, as she raises her other four children to love God and walk with Jesus.