Tag: prayer

A Task Not Done

The man who mows my yard informed me that his truck broke down. He had to wait on parts and for the repairs to be made. Meanwhile, my yard continued to grow.

I had invited some ladies to my house and as the day drew nearer, my anxiety over my yard grew. All the yards around mine were cropped short and looked loved and attended. My yard looked abandoned, unloved.

More than a poor reflection on the man who mows my yard, my knee-high grasses and flowering weeds were a poor reflection on me. I had failed in keeping my yard up to suburban expectations. We can argue about the validity of such expectations, but my un-mowed yard was an embarrassment to me and, I am sure, an embarrassment to my neighbors.

My guests might think that I didn’t care about my yard, that I didn’t value this property. My neighbors probably thought I was an absent landowner. They would doubt my wisdom in not hiring someone else to mow my yard. All because this task has not been done.

What tasks has God given me that I have been remiss in completing?

God calls me to welcome the stranger (Hebrews 13:2), feed the hungry (Matthew 25:35), and love my neighbor (Mark 12:31). When I fail at these tasks, it is not only a bad reflection on me, but also a bad reflection on God.

Does God not care about the world, about the hungry? Is He absent from this world? Why has He not eliminated all the unkind people from His church?

But, of course, the problem is not God. The problem is us. The problem is me. I call myself a Christian, but I have not always loved justice or walked humbly (Micah 6:8). I have not always offered food and drink to those in need (Matthew 25:42). I have not always cared for the foreigners living among us (Leviticus 19:33-34). What a poor reflection I am of the love of God.

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

Now that would be a yard that would make God proud.

Instead, I am making excuses for why I don’t live that way, why I don’t do what God has asked me to do, what I have told God I will do. Love God with all my heart and soul. Love my neighbor. Love my enemies. Forgive anyone who wrongs me. Turn away from sin. Trust in God’s provision for the day. Am I letting a broken-down truck keep me from fulfilling His desires?

As I was debating how long I would wait before I gave up on my mower and found someone else to tend my yard, he called to say his truck was fixed. He came over just a few minutes before my guests arrived. I thanked him and encouraged him to come more regularly in the future. He thanked me for waiting, for being patient with him. I feel like I have had these conversations with God, where I apologized for my actions, or lack of actions, and thanked Him for His patience. God, in turn, welcomed me, and encouraged me to come to Him more often.

I don’t want to be the servant left in charge of the master’s affairs who spends his time carousing and unkind. I want to be the servant the master finds hard at work when he returns (Matthew 24:45-51). I want to be the one who welcomes the stranger and feeds the hungry, who helps make this world a beautiful and loving place.

I want my actions to reflect well on the name of Christ. Don’t you?

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to God in heaven. Matthew 5:16.

Love in Christ, Betsy

A Kink in the Hose

The morning is quiet. Only the birds greet my presence in the yard, and their conversations most likely are not about me. A gentle breeze barely moves the leaves on my greening trees and hedges. A layer of clouds mutes the rising sun, but I do not expect rain. It hasn’t rained for days, and warmer-than-average temperatures have led me to the garden while it is still early.

My plants need water.

So, while the birds are still louder than the sound of cars on the nearby road, I take down the hose and water.

As I drag the hose along the garden, watering the garlic, the non-emergent beets, the raspberry and fig, the flow of water slows until finally, right as I am at my sugar snaps, the water stops completely.

I do not panic or fret. The world is not out of water. The city has not cut off my water supply. An angry God has not thwarted my plans. I look back along my garden and see where the hose has folded over on itself, kinked. The knot is not allowing the ever-present water to flow.

I shake the hose because sometimes the problem is fixed that easily. But the kink is too tight, the tangle too pressed for such an easy fix. I need to put down my nozzle and seek out the problem. I walk to the knot and gently unkink the hose, laying it in a line along the yard, allowing the water to flow freely once again.

Only then do I return to the spray nozzle, lift the hose, and send the life-giving water to the sugar snaps.

So, when you are offering your gift at the altar. If you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister. And then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

Get the kink out and then the water will flow.

I often don’t think of prayer that way. Sometimes, I talk; He does what He wants. Perhaps I should think of prayer in the same way I think about watering my garden. Life-giving water is available. It can flow through me to encourage the world, or it can be bottled up and clogged by my selfish thoughts and actions. I can twist myself into knots, I can let relationships remain broken, I can hold onto resentments. I can refuse to make amends when I have offended someone. I can block the flow of water.

So often, when the water ceases to flow, when I no longer sense the presence of God, I begin to panic and fret. God may not be real. God is angry with me and has turned away from me. God is refusing to supply His life-giving presence.

Perhaps I need to set down my spray nozzle, leave my offering on the altar, seek out the problem, and rectify it. Am I letting a particular sin knot my life? Does my brother or sister have something against me? Has a habit or thought twisted my relationship with God?

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3

God wants to free us from the kinks that knot our lives. Abundant life awaits when the water flows freely, abundant growth, abundant fruit. So, if the water is not flowing today, I will take a moment and ask God to remind me what my brother has against me, to show me the knot in my life. With God’s help, I will unkink the hose and let the water flow freely once again.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The Importance of Water

It rained! Praise the Lord! And the rain stopped for Easter! God is so good!

Silly, letting weather affect my mood so, but I am grateful for the rain – and for the sun.

March was incredibly dry for Middle Tennessee. In a month when heavy rain often causes my creeks to overflow, this year, the third month brought little rain. I found myself carrying pitchers of water for my new trees and watering the garden like it was June.

Plants must have water.

As tempting as it is to fill my mornings with other things, if I don’t include time for watering my plants, they will suffer limited growth and limited fruit. It may take 5, 10, or 20 minutes, but I need to carve out the time to do this. Because not watering my plants may lead to no growth and no fruit.

I am grateful when the rain falls from the sky and relieves me of the obligation to water the garden. Rain is so much more beautiful and natural. But letting the environment, or the weather, determine the success of my garden is not wise. Letting the environment and my daily life determine my relationship with God is not wise either.

For my own growth and well-being, to have any chance of bearing the Spirit’s fruit, I need to spend time in prayer. When prayer doesn’t spring naturally from the rain or sunshine of daily life, I need to make the time to spend time with God. I need to carve out 5, 10, 20 minutes to be alone with God and water my soul with prayer and scripture.

There was a time when I rejected the idea of such a structured prayer time. Prayer shouldn’t be an obligation. I should come to the Lord when praise or despair leads me to Him. My prayer should spring spontaneously from my heart. Wasn’t that the problem with the Pharisees? They had made faith an obligation rather than a heartfelt choice.

But the garden has taught me that as beautiful as spontaneous rain falling from the heavens is, sometimes I need to get out my hose and water.

Sometimes the sunny dry weather we all enjoy can limit growth in my garden. The plants need water and I need prayer. If this does not happen spontaneously, I need to make it happen. Otherwise, I may become stagnate and begin to wilt. Otherwise, I may fail to grow, fail to bear His fruit. All for lack of water, all for lack of prayer.

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11.

I encourage you to water your soul today. If God is not forcing you to your knees in praise or despair, take 5, 10, or 20 minutes to get there on your own.

And the God who sees you and hears your prayers will reward you with His presence, His love, and His fruit.

Praise the Lord. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Oops!

The garlic is up! I have already cut the scapes once, but I will cut them a few more times before I let them grow unbothered.

The thick green leaves encourage me that there are hearty bulbs below the surface. This especially encourages me because my garlic crop was a failure last year. Not one sprouted. I didn’t want to write about it because who wants to broadcast their failure? Besides, I wasn’t sure what the problem was.

Was there too much water? Had the cardboard poisoned the soil? Had some underground critter eaten them? The options for blame were plentiful.

My previous year’s crop had been successful. When last year’s bulbs came in, I planted them just as I remembered planting them the year before, being careful to always plant the bulbs point down as I remembered doing it the year before. Spacing them out, covering them with dirt, and watering frugally.

That’s the problem with memory. This year, I read the instructions again and watched the video on garlic planting. Perhaps I had done something wrong. Indeed. Garlic bulbs are always to be planted point up. And I had so carefully planted them point down. Poor bulbs! Breaking from their shells to find only darkness and dirt instead of the sunlight they craved.

Do not be wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:7.

Less than a minute looking at the video with all the bulbs point up and I saw the error in my ways. I had trusted in myself, been wise in my own eyes. I wonder where else this is happening.

How often am I confident that I know what to do, and how often is that in error? Sometimes the results are not as clear cut as no garlic harvest. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes, I love to study scripture and contemplate theology. But their confidence in their own wisdom made them unable to imagine that God was doing something wonderful in their midst. Jesus broke the Sabbath laws. Jesus touched lepers, ate with sinners, talked to Samaritans. They knew this was wrong.

Is it possible that in my self confidence I have “misremembered” what the scriptures teach? Secure in my understanding, have I judged as right something that is wrong, or judged as wrong something God is using to further His kingdom? Have I been confident in planting my bulbs upside down and then been surprised they didn’t grow?

There is hope. I returned to the basic instructions, those instructions I thought I knew but didn’t. I looked at the picture and could see where I was wrong. Prayer, Spirit-led Bible study, conversations with those whose gardens are full of fruit, all of these can enlighten me to the error of my thinking. And I need to be humble enough to admit I was wrong, brave enough to admit my failure.

Because when the life I am living isn’t producing a harvest of the Spirit’s fruit, I need to examine what the problem is. It may be as simple as pointing the bulbs in the right direction – toward the sun, toward the Son.

Jesus said to them (the Sadducees), “Is this not the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?” Mark 12:24

Love in Christ, Betsy

A Clean Space

Something has been rooting around in my garden!

They didn’t find much and stopped after two garlic bulbs. They probably didn’t like the taste. Either way, I laid grating on top of the tiny scapes that I hope will prevent further damage.

My guess is that the ground has been so cluttered with limbs and crisscrossed by humans removing those limbs that the critter felt hopeful in the clear and protected space of the garden. Imagine his or her surprise to find a garlic bulb hidden there instead of a tasty acorn.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This is the season when we are encouraged to de-clutter our lives of those things that obscure or disrupt our relationship with God. Like the fallen or cut limbs across my yard, our habits and obsessions can hinder our walk of faith and obscure the truths God has buried in His Word and in our lives.

We need a space that is clear of that clutter. We need a protected space where the buried treasures He gives us can flourish. But that same clear space attracts forces that would steal those treasures.

When it (the unclean spirit) comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of the person is worse than the first. Matthew 12:44-45.

Lent is usually considered a time to give something up, to practice self-discipline, to train ourselves to resist temptation. But Lent is more than a time to sweep out our distractions and put our lives in order. We need to protect ourselves from unclean spirits who covet our space, who are looking for empty spaces to ravage. We need to call on the Holy Spirit to fill us, to strengthen us, to guide us.

He was in the wilderness forty days, temped by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Mark 1:12.

My hope is that prayer and worship will work as a barrier against unclean spirits which may be attracted to me. My prayer is that God will watch over me and protect me as the angels watched over Jesus. I don’t want my space clean and empty, but clean and full of His Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the strength to resist temptation. It is His presence which keeps the wild beasts at bay. It is Jesus who loves us in our weakness and failure as we build those muscles of perseverance and discipline. Without Him, we are inviting all the unclean spirits to enter.

My sugar snap seeds have arrived. The weather is getting warmer. The days are getting longer. Soon, I will plant seeds into the empty soil and watch for their growth. Soon the songs of the birds and the music of the creek will no longer be overshadowed by the buzz of chainsaws. I am eager for winter to be over and spring to arrive. I am eager for Easter.

But for now, I need to keep my garden clear and protected. I need to use this time of Lent to learn to trust God for all that I need and put Him first in all things. I need to put my house in order and fill it with love.

And if something, or someone, does sneak in and begin rooting around, I hope they are surprised to find peace and love hidden there and not hidden anger or resentment.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Faithfulness

As unlikely as I find it, this marks the completion of four years of weekly posts. Some of you have been reading along with me the entire time and I cannot thank you enough. Most of you are newer readers and your presence is a remarkable surprise and blessing.

I started this practice to improve my writing skills and discipline myself to write regularly. I had wanted to write a Bible study on gardening. Biblical writers, the prophets, and Jesus use the garden often as a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven, Israel, and our belief. From Genesis through Revelation, the garden is used to illustrate our relationship with God. We are either a beautiful garden or a wasteland; we bear fruit or we bear thorns and thistles.

But what writing this blog has taught me, much like what the garden itself has taught me, is faithfulness and self-discipline. Even when I don’t feel like it, I need to write a weekly post. Even when I don’t feel like it, I need to water and tend the garden. Even when it is difficult, I need to prepare the garden, and I need to prepare my heart.

Not because it’s critical to life that I write or plant, but because God has led me to pursue these things. He has given me the space and the time, the desire and the ability, and He has given me joy in pursuing them.

There was a time after Nick died that I thought I would never find joy again. How could I be happy when the man who made me laugh was gone?

Last month, I finally scattered the last of Nick’s ashes into the Gulf he loved so much. It was bittersweet and perhaps overdue. My children and their spouses gathered around me as we took turns saying goodbye once again. The grandchildren Nick would never know played in the sand nearby and came to join in the hugs we shared.

I packed up my beach gear and headed home to the aftermath of an epic ice storm. Life goes on. It always does. Until the day God calls us home, we are asked to persevere, to pursue the interests God has given us, to use the gifts and resources He has provided. Even when we don’t feel like it. Even when It’s difficult.

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. Psalm 126:5-6.

There have been weeks when the only thing making me press on is the conviction that someone out there would notice my absence and miss me. Your presence has helped me maintain my faithfulness. Thank you!

I look forward to my fifth year writing this blog. I look forward to what God will teach me and the words He will give me. I look forward to planting sugar snaps and, when it is warmer, tomatoes. I look forward to the joyful times God is preparing for me.

He is preparing them for you as well. Hang in there. Your faithfulness will be rewarded.

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. Ephesians 6:7, 9-10.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The Little Things

It’s not a new thought but it has taken me years to truly absorb the impact of it. God cares about the little things.

God cares about microscopic plankton and miniscule flowers. He cares about what you eat, how you prepare it, and why. He cares about who you share your food with. He cares about your random thoughts and how you react to traffic. He cares about all the things you care about because He cares about you.

God gave His people intricate details about the tabernacle and the temple because He cares about how we meet with Him. He gives us instructions on righteous living because He cares how we conduct ourselves. He wants to be a part of every detail of our lives, not to control us but because He loves us that much.

How was your day? Did you get angry when you were ignored? Were you aroused by that love-making scene on tv? Did you feel proud when your friend complimented your new handbag? Did I even think about God during the day?

For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12.

And those cosmic powers of darkness seep into our lives through the little things.

If I buy outdated seeds because they are cheaper, I will have a poor sugar snap crop. If I plant my tomatoes in the shade, they won’t produce well. If I don’t make the effort to water my plants, they will die. Little things with big consequences.

It does matter how I spend the next hour. It does matter how I talk to strangers, my friends, my family. It does matter what I worry about, what I strive for, what I seek after. So often, I don’t even take the time to determine that; I just act, like an animal running on instinct.

But these little battles matter. Every little win makes us stronger and loosens the tempter’s grip on us. Each time we call on God, each time we invoke the name of Jesus, each time we pray with the Holy Spirit, we claim a little more space for God to grow in us.

As we remove each rock of resentment, every stone of covetousness, and the weeds of worry, we create a beautiful garden for God to grow His fruit.

His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:23.

The little things matter. The little things lead to big things, good or bad. You know this. I know this, but it is so easy to forget. It is so easy to think God doesn’t care about little things, like if I eat this whole bag of chips or if I call that person an idiot or if I watch that movie. He cares, friend.

He wants us to win every battle, seek first the kingdom (Matt. 6:33), and bring everything to Him in prayer (Phil. 4:6). For the little things make up the big things. The little things come first.

God cares about the plankton. He cares about the fish who eat it and the bigger fish who eat them. He cares about the fisherman who caught that fish and you who serve that fish to your family. He cares whether you thank Him for that fish.

Little things make a big difference.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Peace

The beach is empty in the chill morning air. Only the bravest, bundled in jackets and scarves, take their dogs on long walks beside the lapping water. Snowbirds gather here this time of year. The bright sun breaks through the wind and warms my soul if not my feet.

I love the beach in winter. I can hear the waves and look out to sea, mesmerized by the rhythmic sound. In the summer, I would feel the pull of swimsuits and sunscreen and sandcastles, dragging my uncooperative beach chairs to the sand and staking out my spot. But this morning, I sit in my flannel nightgown and cradle my coffee as I soak up God’s beauty through large windows.

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. Psalm 104:24-25.

This is what I want to bring back with me from my beach trip. Not a perfect shell or fresh caught shrimp. Not even the taste of a harvested-that-day oyster from the newly opened Apalachicola Bay. I want to bring back this peace, this assurance that God is good, that His creation is good, even the parts I don’t like or understand. I want to carry home my separation from the tv and the clock, from talking heads and fear mongers.

Already as the sun climbs higher in the sky, the sounds of hammering and buzz saws from the house being built nearby drown out the sound of the waves. My very short to-do list pulls me from the view of the horizon to more mundane sights. Perhaps that is the way with peaceful communion. We can’t stay in it to the exclusion of the world around us. But we are called to return to it as often as we can.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35.

Perhaps I can take a little of this trip home with me. Perhaps, I don’t need a trip to the beach to sense the closeness of God. I know I sense Him in my garden when I smell the fresh turned dirt or taste a crisp sugar snap. I know I sense his presence in waterfalls on the lake, in the call of the mourning doves, and the rustle of the wind in the trees. God is, after all, everywhere at all times and with us to the end of the age. I don’t need to go to Him. He is already here with me, with you.

The point, then, is to take the time to sit quietly in His presence. To quiet our fears and our constant churning, to turn off our phones and watches so that we can soak up the presence of God.

Can I be still for ten minutes? Twenty? An hour? At the beach, I can sit and watch the waves for an hour. On the lake, I can soak up the sunshine for an hour. In the garden, I can tend to my plants and enjoy their growth. In the woods, I can take deep breaths and admire the beauty of trees. I can immerse myself in His Word, or in music that elevates my spirit. There are so many ways to reconnect with God, to bolster the Holy Spirit within me, to give Him time to grow and bear fruit in my life.

The fruit of peace. Like the peace of watching the sun sparkle on the water, of hearing the waves lap against the shore, of hearing the birds all to each other, of watching a plant grow.

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1.

Love in Christ, Betsy

What Will You Choose?

I love the God who created tomatoes and figs and oceans and sunrises and trees draped with Spanish moss.

It is harder for me to love the God that created that serpent and that forbidden fruit. But if He created everything and nothing came into being without him (John 1:3), then He also created cancer and leprosy and polio and covid and venomous sea serpents and poisonous mushrooms.

Why?

Perhaps to give us the opportunity to choose good, to choose to obey His voice, not be forced to do so by a lack of options.

Maybe God wants us to learn and discover what is evil, what we can do to avoid it, and how to battle its consequences. Maybe He wants us to learn about microbes and germs and discover cures and preventions. It starts with recognizing and understanding the things around us.

The world, the universe, is a treasure trove of gifts yet undiscovered. God has hidden them so that we may sense the thrill of discovery when we find them. Plants that thrive in austere conditions, planets that explode millions of miles away, germs that weasel their way into our dna strands. Research into those ‘challenging’ things that God has created has taught us about the universe – weather, germs, poisons, mental disorders. We have the choice to let harmful things have their way with us or make an effort to overcome them.

I always have the choice to act in my own self-interest or to act in love, putting other’s interests ahead of my own. God gave us this option by creating a world full of decisions to be made. He wants us to make the wiser choice. He even tells us what it is.

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

Furthermore, God does not leave us to face these choices on our own. He’s here with us. He gave us instructions and advice, cautionary tales, and wise advisors. He sent His son to walk among us and show us how. He sent His spirit to live within us and help us choose rightly.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13.

God created a beautiful, awesome, amazing world, but it is also full of perils, some hidden, some obvious. He calls us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16) and he calls us above all else to love each other (John 15:12 and 1 John 4:7-8).

God loves us so much that He gives us the option to choose rebellion, to put ourselves before Him and others. We can ignore His guidance. We can choose to walk in darkness and fulfill our own selfish desires. We can choose to sit idle when danger appears. Or we can choose to act in love. We can choose to accept that God created things we do not like, things that harm us and others, and people who challenge and threaten us. We can choose to see these as opportunities for growth. We can look for cures and preventions. We can choose to act in love toward those who challenge us.

There is so much we have yet to discover – about this world, about each other, even about ourselves. It starts with learning about the God created all of it, about His love for us. He calls us to share this love with His world, not just the parts we like, but, in wisdom, with the parts we fear.

We have the choice. Let’s choose love today.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Just Do It

For every inclination we have to ‘do something,’ we have an equal and opposite inclination to not do it. Call it the physics of human impetus. Sometimes that is our conscience or the Holy Spirit warning us of the potential hazards of an action. Sometimes it is our lazy selfishness or fearful anxiety that prevents us from moving forward.

Nike is urging us to overcome that second form of inertia. Don’t let laziness or selfishness or fear or anxiety stop you from stepping out in faith. Just do it. Plant the garden, plan the trip, make the call, take that first step. Just do it. (In Nike’s case, put on their shoes and exercise!)

I have had people tell me that they want a garden, but they don’t have one. They don’t have the room or the time. They have tried and failed in the past. It seems like too much work. Growing something doesn’t necessarily involve a lot of work unless you choose to let it. You can grow tomatoes in a pot on your balcony. You can grow herbs on your kitchen sink. Yes, you will get your hands dirty on occasion, and you must remember to water your plant, but beyond that, how large and diverse a garden you have is up to you.

What is necessary is the decision to do it. Carve out space in your yard. Buy a pot and a starter plant. Set aside a time to water. If you are concerned, unsure if your inertia is fear or sensible caution, start slowly. One plant. In a safe place.

The beauty of God’s creation is that He made the seed with the desire to become a fruit-bearing plant. Our “work” is simply to let it do what it was created to do. Our work is to clear out those things which prevent that seed from becoming all that it can be.

Your relationship with God, Father, Son, and Spirit, your spiritual growth, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life is the same. We can make it seem like a big, difficult, time-consuming thing and make excuses for why we don’t invest in that relationship. Or we can set aside a small space on our counter or on the balcony and plant that seed.

Pray. List your concerns. Tell God your hopes and fears. Read His word. Listen to his voice. Have a conversation with Him as you would with a close friend. Give the seed of His Spirit within you a little space to grow, a little water.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God? Micah 6:8.

It’s not a long, complicated list.

We may look at someone else’s huge, beautiful garden and think we could never do that. That may be true. God may not be calling you or me to do that. But that should not stop us from growing basil on our windowsill. The fact that some are called to be missionaries in difficult situations should not stop us from taking ten minutes in the morning to sit and talk with God.

Just do it.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on that rock. Matthew 7:24-25.

Love in Christ, Betsy