Category: Autumn

When God bears fruit in our lives

Effort and Opportunity

I look out my window and smile. What a difference a little bit of effort makes! For weeks the overgrown sugar snaps garden chided me. Every time I went to the garden I could feel the weight of an unfinished task, an unmet obligation.

The job was difficult. Overgrown weeds and dead plants entangled the fence posts and supports. The crabgrass was so entrenched that it took several passes with the tiller to clear the space. I tilled the space now, in the fall, so the microbes and beneficial bugs will return by spring. I covered it with cardboard so the weeds hopefully will not.

Now that space makes me proud. I made the effort and succeeded in clearing the space. Yay for me! I could not have done it without my brother-in-law’s help. I could not have done it without clear weather and the proper tools. But it is so encouraging that I was able to make the effort and complete the task.

Perhaps when I was younger and stronger and more energetic, I would not have been so gratified simply to have put forth the effort. Perhaps there were times in my life when I didn’t appreciate the obstacles many of us face in simply putting forth the effort.

There is a resistance that rears its ugly head and tells us not to try. There is a God who tells us to lean on Him for strength.

For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.

Even if it’s little things like clearing the sugar snap garden, getting it ready for next year.

Now that space is ready for what is to come!

Now, when I look out my window or walk by my garden, I see that prepared garden space, and the inherent opportunity excites me. Now I want to prepare more of the garden. I want to prepare the space for the garlic. I know I can tackle the weeds along the fence line of the rest of the garden. I’ve done it for the sugar snaps.

No longer do I see the overgrown areas of my garden as exhausting and overwhelming obligations; I see them as exciting opportunities for future growth.

And if that is true in my garden, is it not also true in my life?

When I prove to myself that the small tasks God has given me are not too much for my feeble frame, I begin to look forward to the next tasks He sends me. He has sustained me. He has given me the strength and ability to accomplish this little thing, what else can He accomplish through me?

Suddenly, my world feels full of possibility. If God gives me a job to do, I can be confident that He will enable me to do it. If I am following Jesus, putting forth the effort to love my neighbors, love my enemies, put others needs ahead of my own, then God can and will use me to accomplish His ends. He will give me the strength and help and direction I need.

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything we need?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:31-32, 37.

All this from a cleared garden space! Isn’t God amazing?

What overwhelming obligation do you face today? With God’s empowering Spirit, you can turn it into an exciting opportunity. I know. I’ve just done it. You can too.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Please join me as I sign my new book, Garden Devotions. Copies will be available to purchase at both events:

Sunday October 6th 9:30-10:30 am – First Presbyterian Church, Nashville or

Tuesday October 22nd 10-12 am – Logos Bookstore 2136 Bandywood Dr.

Obligations and Entanglements

As I wander my garden and check on my still growing tomatoes, the space where the sugar snaps grew taunts me. Why have you abandoned me? Why have you left me in such a mess? How will you be able to grow sugar snaps here next year, if you do not take care of me now?

I harvested my last sugar snaps in early June and the space where they grew sits untouched since then. By summer, I had turned my attention to cucumbers and tomatoes and peppers and basil and garlic and new fruit plants.

Now, my spring garden is overwhelmed with weeds, feral, abandoned. Soon it will be cold, and the ground will be hard. Not long after that I will plant my seeds again. Now is the time to address this space. Now is the time to prepare the ground for winter and next year’s crop. But “now” already has a lot of demands on it.

I find myself once more reviewing my obligations, prioritizing my commitments, planning my time to align with what God is calling me to do. I can’t write a blog on gardening if I do not tend to my garden.

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him. Luke 14:29.

I yank the bean supports free from the dead sugar snaps and live grasses. I dig out the old cardboard, separate the fence from the poles and remove the timbers that border the space. Even with help, I find clearing the space of entanglements exhausting.

The old plants and growing weeds cling to the supports, the fencing, the cardboard, the timbers. I grab and pull and cut and separate. Slowly, I clear the space.

Even with the cool breeze, sweat runs into my eyes and down my back. My arms are sore and slimy and scratched. I arch my back and rotate my shoulders and wonder if ridicule might be easier.

But I have promised myself that I will grow sugar snaps next spring. To fulfill that obligation, I must rid this space of its entanglements.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1.

And if this is true in garden, it is also true in my life.

I find myself immersed in activity and overwhelmed by my obligations. Even worse, I know they are self-imposed. No one’s health or safety depends on me. I have made commitments to others and myself; set goals that I want to attain. I still find them overwhelming. And the entanglements that accompany them are exhausting. But to build a fine structure or finish the race or maintain my garden, I need to meet my obligations and rid myself of the entanglements.

This is the hard part of gardening. It can be the hard part of life and faith as well, leaving us feeling exhausted. But good news is at hand. We live in faith. When we persevere, when we act in preparation for a future we may not see, when we look forward to what God is going to do in our lives, I believe God smiles.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

(Abram) believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6.

So, I get to work, meeting my obligations and ridding my life and garden of unwanted entanglements. I till the ground and uproot the weeds. I may not see the end results while I am engrossed in the labor, but I have faith that God does.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Beautiful!

The air is damp and cool. The outstretched arm of a far-away hurricane has left droplets on my table, dew on my grass, moisture in the air. Far from the raging winds and flooding rains, my yard soaks up these precious sprinkles like the gifts they are.

The birds are noisy this morning. They have found fresh pools of water and are telling their friends. Seeds are plentiful, and light breezes make the flying easy. A mockingbird sits on my garden fence and beckons me, calling my attention to what he wants to show me.

Ripe tomatoes. On a dying plant.

This dear plant is not using her limited resources to make her leaves green and supple, or even to make her stems straight and strong. She is putting all her energy into producing fruit that will benefit others. What a beautiful picture of the Christian life!

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4.

Selfish ambition and conceit seem ingrained in my DNA. Perhaps they are – a gift from Eve. Certainly, our culture rewards it. Perhaps mankind has always rewarded it. Success is often defined as achieving your ambitions. But what if my ambition is to serve your interests instead of my own? What does that look like? Does it look like my dying tomato plants?

We all know someone who operates in near obscurity bringing meals to the elderly, clothes to the homeless, Bibles to prisoners. We know that sweet friend that gives tirelessly and without complaint, who is always there to support others, who shies away from all recognition.

This is the example Jesus sets for us. Go the extra mile. Turn the other cheek. Repay evil with kindness. Love one another. Empty yourself and let God’s Spirit fill you. Lay down your life.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:12-14.

This little tomato plant is laying down her life, giving her last efforts, to produce these beautiful tomatoes, to bless me with her gifts. It is so ingrained in her to do this that we rarely credited her for this altruistic behavior. Would that the same could be said about me.

There are moments when we get to witness this beautiful behavior in others. Last week was the anniversary of 9-11. There were many such stories from that day – beautiful self-sacrifice in the face of unspeakable horror. People putting the interests of others ahead of their own interests; people laying down their lives to help others.

God has put that tiny imprint of Himself in us. With the Spirit’s help, we can encourage His imprint to grow in us until we look and act more like Him. Jesus has shown us the way. Jesus is the way.

What a beautiful morning for sharing what God is growing in my life with you. Refreshing rains, cooling temperatures, gentle breezes. Far away a storm is raging. As I enjoy this peaceful moment, I wonder if I can share this generous gift of tomatoes with someone facing strong winds and flooding waters. Perhaps with you.

Thank you, beautiful friends, for sharing your time with me.

Love in Christ, Betsy

September Tomatoes

I went out of town for a week and guess what greeted me on my return? September Tomatoes.

The plant is well into old age. Some branches are brown and wilted. Most of her neighbor plants have died already. But look! Tomatoes!

This little plant amazes me. She is still working hard to produce fruit, to share her vitality with the world, to provide for others. She has not called it quits just because some of her neighbors have. It may sound silly to be impressed by a tomato plant, but I am. More accurately, I am impressed by how God is continuing to produce fruit in her.

Do you think God is teaching us something in this?

What is considered “past our prime” is changing. And not just because I am aging! A generation or two ago, a seventy-year-old person was old. Now there are seventy- and eighty-year-olds who are very active and vibrant. They travel the world, take yoga and Pilates, publish poetry books, care for their grandkids, find romance, and volunteer extensively.

The righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm 92:12-15.

Of course, not all of us live into our seventies and eighties. Some of us are gathered to God much earlier in life. Most of my tomato plants have already died. Not because they were unrighteous. Being right with God does not guarantee us a long life, but it does promise us a life of bearing fruit for Him, an abundant life.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. John 15:11.

My eyes brighten, my lips push up my cheeks, a laugh burbles from my mouth. Joy. In this beautiful, simple thing. Hope. For myself, for others, for situations that feel hopeless. It’s not too late. As long as your feet are planted in the rich soil of God’s word, as long as the life-giving water of prayer flows, as long as the Son shines, there is joy and hope and love.

God is so good.

I have a favor to ask. If you have bought my new book Garden Devotions, thank you! If you liked it, please leave a review on Amazon. This is how they decide which books to recommend to browsing shoppers. The space to leave a review of the book is a long scroll down the page, but it is there at the bottom. If you would like to order the book it is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through the link provided in the menu at the top of this page.

This book feels like the green tomatoes on my plants. It’s never to late for God to bear new fruit in your life. The evidence in here, right before me. God plants a seed; we nurture it in His word and prayer; He produces fruit; that fruit is available to nourish others. Simple and amazing.

Thank you for joining me in the garden. I am so glad that my gardening days are not over just because it’s September.

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Peppers

September has arrived and my garden is showing its fall colors!

I see the brown of the dead and dying plants, but also the vibrant hues of the bell peppers, red and orange and yellow.

I am so grateful for these hardy plants that withstood the summer heat and are still growing in my garden. They remind me that God has a time and a season for all fruit.

I love the sugar snaps that come in the spring, encouraging me to keep the garden going. I love the new fruit emerging on the vines and stalks. I love the garlic and basil, the cucumbers and tomatoes that grow throughout the summer. And I love these peppers who transition me into autumn.

It is a beautiful day. Morning clouds have dissipated, and a clear blue sky stretches from the tops of trees to green lawns. The birds call to each other and those pesky squirrels scamper across the yard. I pull some weeds and cut some basil. The fragrant scents fill my senses. What a blessing to spend just a few minutes everyday soaking in God’s gifts in nature.

For what can be know about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. Romans 1:19-20.

Nature constantly reminds me of God’s creativity and His love of beauty. So many different plants and trees and flowers and blossoms and fruits and seeds. All with their own seasons and habitats and needs. The details of a flower petal, the variety of fruits, the interconnectivity of living things – they all bear witness to a creator who far exceeds our limited capabilities. And yet this same God cares enough to give us a variety of tastes and smells and colors, perhaps just for enjoyment, perhaps also for His own.

The skies proclaim His glory but this little patch of garden in my backyard does, too. It has persevered through unseasonal heat and unusual cool. Some of it has faded, some of it has died, and some lives on, still producing, still growing, still healthy.

There are some former interests that are fading in my life. There are some that have died. But others continue, even thrive, producing new and varied fruit. I have done no needlepoint this year, but I published a book. I have yet to harvest a tomato, but I have perfected a pesto recipe. I have thriving fig and raspberry plants. My garlic was successful enough to encourage me to plant again this fall.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you.” Genesis 121:1.

God has not asked me to leave my country or my kindred, but He has led me to some new places, some new interests, some new avocations. He has shown me new things. He has grown peppers of various colors in the September of my life.

Even more, God is teaching me how to continue to grow, continue to learn, continue to produce even in the autumn of my life. He has taught me that the garden can produce even in the winter. Perhaps I will be able to as well.

What a marvelous God we have! What a blessing that He shows us His eternal power and divine nature in the things He has made, even the simple things like red and orange and yellow bell peppers.

If you missed it – I have published a book, Garden Devotions, which can be ordered through Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, or the link found in the menu at the top of this page. If you are willing, leave a review! Many thanks.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Giving Thanks

Today, let me lift my voice in thanks to God.

Thank you, Lord, that I am able to write these words and send them out electronically.

Thank you, Lord, that someone is reading these words.

Thank you for computers and electricity and the written word and teachers that taught us to read and write.

Thank you for the printing press and those dedicated souls who copied your word by hand.

Thank you, Lord, that you gave us your word in written form.

All scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16.

Thank you, Lord, for ample food easily available.

Thank you for the people who grew this food, raised these animals, ensured their quality, transported them, and kept them unspoiled for us.

Thank you for the generations before us who taught us how to prepare this food and gave us recipes to follow.

Thank you for the variety of tastes and flavors and combinations that your natural world provides for us.

Thank you for the different cultures who have influenced what we cook, how we cook, and how we eat our food.

Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Luke 13:29.

Thank you, Lord, that I am healthy enough to prepare this food and my family is healthy enough to join me.

Thank you for medicines that cure, medicines that treat, and medicines that prevent.

Thank you for the scientists and doctors who develop those medicines.

Thank you that they can be delivered to my door or picked up in minutes.

Thank you for doctors who have taken the time and energy to understand the human body and diseases and disorders.

Thank you for their teachers who have shared the knowledge gained from generations of people who cared enough to try to help those who were ill.

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Matthew 25:39-40.

Thank you, Lord, that my family is able to join me in giving thanks to you.

Thank you for family.

Thank you for uniting these people born to different sets of parents into one family that could gather together to thank you.

Thank you for parents that love their children.

Thank you for children who care for their parents.

Thank you for the circumstances in life that brought us all to this table.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Thank you, Lord, for your earth around us.

Thank you for frosty nights and warm houses.

Thank you for leaves that turn red and brown, and, in the spring, green again.

Thank you for sunlit clouds and the radiant colors of sunrises and sunsets.

Thank you for flowers that bloom in the winter, bringing color to our world.

And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ Isaiah 6:3.

Thank you, Lord, for this day set aside to give thanks.

Thank you for reminding us that we did not create this world; You did.

Thank you for reminding us that the sun, the rain, the ground, the plants, the animals, our bodies, our brains, whatever abilities we have, all are a gift from you.

Thank you for sending your Son to draw us closer to you.

Thank you for caring so much for us, for loving us even when we are unlovable.

Thank you for forgiving us, even though it cost so much.

Thank you for the opportunity to call you Lord and Father.

Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! Psalm 117.

Betsy

Preparing for a Feast

Many of us, in mid-November, are preparing a feast.

Next week, family and friends will gather for what is traditionally the biggest feast day on the American calendar. No hamburgers and hotdogs here!

Preparing for Thanksgiving takes a lot of planning and coordination. Who is coming? Where will they sit? What are their dietary restrictions? What side dish can they add to the table?

What can I buy in advance? What can I cook in advance? What can I cook on Wednesday, and what must be cooked on Thursday? What is the schedule for the oven? What dishes do I use to serve the food? What plates and silverware will I use?

Centerpiece? Tablecloth? Napkins? Place cards?

God is preparing a feast for us.

I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham, Issac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11.

He has been preparing this feast for us, the human race, for a long time, and it promises to be glorious.

And unlike my dining room table, there is plenty of room.

The problem seems to be that some people have made other plans. We’ve had the years when Thanksgiving looked like that. Your sister is visiting her husband’s family; your daughter is traveling with her in-laws; your son is working on Wednesday and Friday and can’t make the trip. Suddenly, your table looks empty.

Then Jesus said to them, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner, he sent his slave to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.” Luke 14:16-18.

One of those years when no one was able to come, I went to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with family there. I even brought the turkey. Our God, through Jesus, does this, too. He comes to us when we are making excuses for why we can’t go to Him.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

He even brings the food. He wants to have this great feast with us.

He modeled it in Mosaic law.

Speak to the people of Israel saying, on the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.  You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute throughout your generations.” Leviticus 23: 34,41.

Not just a feast on one day, but a feast for seven days. A HUGE feast – for everyone.

God gave David a vision of a feast with his enemies present, where they would have to acknowledge God’s blessing of his life. (Psalm 23:5).

And Jesus loved to feast. With sinners, which is a good thing since we are all sinners.

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Mark 2:16-17.

So, as I am preparing my feast for my family, I remember that God is preparing a feast for mankind and inviting all the sinners to feast with him. What a glorious feast that will be!

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Revelation 19:9.

Enjoy the feast!

Betsy

Why do we need to eat?

Preparing my garden for winter is a slow and mindless task; at least I am doing it in a slow and mindless way. Sitting in the garden, pulling up the weeds around me, I am using my muscles, but my mind wanders.

Isn’t it an amazing thing that we need food? That all living things need food?

It would be far more practical if we didn’t. How much easier our lives would be, what a greater chance of survival we would have, if we didn’t need food.

No need to endanger ourselves hunting, exhaust ourselves foraging, or expose ourselves to the elements.

But God did not create his universe to live in isolation.

We must all live in connection with each other, the plants, the animals, the humans, even the atmosphere. We all need each other to grow and survive. The plants need the air and sunshine and water to grow; they need the pollinators and seed eaters to profligate. Herbivores need the plants to sustain themselves, and carnivores need the plants to sustain the herbivores. We, and other omnivores, need all of creation to sustain us.

We cannot live without the rest of God’s world. At the very least, we need a plant to eat. We need to get off our couch, go outside, interact with the world around us, and find an edible plant.

This feels very simplistic, but too often food just comes from the grocery store, or door dash. That’s like saying babies come from the hospital. It misses the vital connection.

God created His world to need each other, forced all of nature to live in dependence on each other, made it impossible for any plant, animal, or human to live in complete isolation.

What does that tell us about God?

Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. Romans 1:20.

God wants us to live in connection not just with each other, but with all of nature. God essentially forced us to live in connection with nature by creating us to need food.

As I have mentioned before, my husband Nick was a hunter. He used to say that if you wanted a species to survive and thrive, make it a food source. Then the harvesters will ensure the survival of the herd, even if for purely selfish reasons. It is when we harvest animals for non-food reasons – whale oil, fur coats, ivory, bragging rights – that their extinction becomes likely.

Because when we realize that their success as a herd helps ensure our success as humans, we take care of them.

When I realize that your success as a human being helps ensure my success as a human being, I am more inclined to take care of you.

Because we are all dependent on each other and on the world around us.

That’s kind of wonderful, and kind of annoying.

Because we’d like to think that we can manage anything that comes our way by ourselves, thank you. But we cannot even manage the most basic of needs, hunger, by ourselves. At bare minimum, we need a plant.

For me to live my life, it takes plants and animals, thousands of unknown people who supply my everyday needs, my friends and family, even you who are reading this. I need you all. I need the homeless man on the corner, the immigrant woman trapped in poverty, and the abused child. I even need the squirrels who raid my garden. God connected us all. God made us all to need each other.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8.

Hug a tree, thank a plant, speak kindly to a crow, and love the people God puts around you. You need them, just as I need you.

Betsy

Garlic

I am planting garlic this year. A friend I visited last summer had some in her garden, a bulb of which she pulled early for me to see. I was mesmerized. Just pull this aromatic, flavorful treat from the ground and use it in supper. I want to grow my own.

Unlike everything else in my garden, I am to plant garlic in the fall. After the worst of the heat; before the worst of the cold. You put it just barely in the ground, cover it with mulch or straw, and let it lie dormant for months. I am not to harvest it until mid or late summer.

In fact, if the garlic sprouts in the spring, I am to snip off the growth so all the nutrients can go to the bulb.

Each garlic clove will grow into a large garlic bulb. At least, that is the plan. Then, come summer, a top plant will grow. When it dies, the garlic is ready to be harvested.

I am intrigued by the garlic’s need to lie dormant in the ground. Obviously, the clove is not completely dormant in the ground, or it could lie on my kitchen table. The dark, dank blanket of nutrient rich soil is interacting with the clove. Though not visible, the clove is gathering what it needs for future growth.

Do we not have times like this in our lives? We may look dormant, but God is infusing us with His nutrient rich soil.

I have often wondered about Jesus in His twenties. When I was in my twenties, I thought I could and would change the world! Master of their domain, fearless, impervious to consequences, there is a reason the military wants 20-year-olds as soldiers. Although Jesus could and did change the world, he apparently spent His twenties as a small-town carpenter, unknown to the wider world. Dormant.

And Paul, before he wrote all those letters, wandered around in Syria. Dormant.

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. Galatians 2:1.

Fourteen years. I may have been tempted to give up my mission.

We often think about rest as something we do at the end of our work. On the seventh day, God rested. But when we wake up refreshed after a good night’s sleep, we realize rest is also something we need before we act.

Sometimes, maybe most times, we need to be at rest before we act. We need to lie dormant in God’s rich soil, letting His Word and His plan infuse our lives, preparing us to do exactly what he needs and wants us to do. This is not wasted time. God is preparing us, just as He is preparing that garlic clove for its growth next summer.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. James 5:7-8.

Our culture has told us that if you are not moving forward, you are falling behind. But not all motion is progress; some is a spinning of the hamster wheel.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127: 2.

Because:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. Psalm 127:1.

Maybe God is calling you to rest for a while, soak up His Word, let His richness permeate the fibers of your being. When there is a house to be built, or a city to be guarded, trust that He will let you know and guide you on what to do.

Maybe I need to be like this clove of garlic and lie dormant for a while. Then, when God has adequately prepared me, I can be put to His use, making an aromatic, flavorful addition to the world.

Betsy

Garden Shoes

They sit by the back door expectantly, waiting for me to slip them on. Worn out, worn in, scuffed and muddy and comfortable, these are my garden shoes. These shoes are every bit as much a part of my garden as the fencing and the bird netting.

This morning I slipped them on as I headed to the garden. The yard, covered in dew, strewn with grass clippings, muddy with yesterday’s rain, riddled with thorny plants and industrious bees, can be a messy place. Inside my shoes, my feet are dry and clean and safe.

Without these shoes, dedicated to this less than glamorous role in life, either my feet would be in peril, or my fancier shoes would be.

Their appearance in no way diminishes their importance, quite the opposite. It is their worn out, worn in, scruffy, muddy, comfortable countenance that gives them value, makes them perfect for the role of garden shoe.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 2 Corinthians 12:24-25.

Has God assigned you a less than glamorous role in life? Are you worn out, scruffy, and covered in yard debris? Do you feel like an “inferior member?” Haven’t we all felt that way at some point?

Maybe your infant has just thrown up on your one clean shirt, or your mom has wandered down the street in her pajamas looking for the dog that died three years ago. Maybe the dishes have piled up in the sink and toilet backed up in the bathroom. Maybe your boss has trashed your work and told you to start again, again. Maybe your body has failed you, leaving only wishes with no option of action.

You have a very crucial role in the kingdom of God. You are every bit as much a part of God’s garden as the ministers and the missionaries.

In a large house, there are utensils not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary. 2 Timothy 2:20.

And all are valuable. Could you imagine using your silver goblet to measure flour? The silver goblet may be shiny and precious and placed where all can see, but the plastic measuring cup is far more useful, more functional, more necessary, more important to daily life.

I wouldn’t wear my garden shoes to a ladies’ luncheon, but I depend on them.

And Jesus tells us that God values the less glamorous servants highly.

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Mark 9:35. (Also Matthew 20:26, Luke 22:26.)

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy Kingdom of Heaven, God will give my garden shoes the place of honor.

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy kingdom of Heaven, God will give the parent, the caregiver, the housekeeper, the worker, and the invalid seats of honor.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16. (Also Matthew 19:30.)

So, if you are feeling like a worn-out pair of garden shoes today, take heart. If we are following Jesus, He will give us the work He needs us to do, glamorous or not. His Spirit within us will make us “dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21.)

My garden shoes wait patiently for me to slip them on. Just a little walk out to the garden, around and through it, then back inside. Job done; they rest. How happy these shoes make me, doing their little job so well. I do not see their age, their misshapen body, their dirty exterior covered in yard debris; I see their faithful, useful, service.

Well done, good and faithful servant, You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:21.

Betsy