Lesson from the Garden

And now a Lesson from the Garden:

I am a novice at caring for a garden. But I have done everything I know to make it a success. The ground was tilled and fertilized, a trench was dug around the garden to prevent weed and grass invasion, I water the garden every day. Now I have big beautiful plants. BUT...I have no vegetables. Why? Because there are no bees or butterflies to pollinate the plants. So now I am going to have to plant some colorful flowers to attract the pollinators.

If our hearts are the Lord's garden (as it is called in Song of Solomon), we need to make sure that we are producing the fruit of the Spirit for Christ's sake and the world's sake. I wonder how often we do everything right and still produce no fruit. We can water ourselves with the word every day, get rooted in the rich soil of faith, pluck out the weeds of sin, make a barrier to prevent against temptation, and look like really mature Christians, and still produce no fruit. That is because it is God's design to use others to speak into our lives to pollinate us.

A flower has everything within itself to pollinate itself but it can't. God designed it so that it still requires bees and butterflies to do the work. We need to let people speak into our lives. We need to take to heart the messages we hear at church and at home church. We should listen to preachers on audio, maybe read some books on biblical topics, BUT most importantly, allow close friends and family who are believers to deposit into your life. Do not become defensive. Open up. Of course we have to match everything up with scripture and sometimes people can be too pushy (bees have stingers) but the overall point is: fill your ears with the wisdom that Christ has deposited in others so that you might produce fruit for Him.

Aaron Heinly