I have a small, hobby
sized vegetable garden. It by no means produces a
freezer filled with vegetables to last the winter,
but it does provide a modest harvest that my wife
and I enjoy in late summer and early fall.
This year however, my
little plantation is stunted. Beans, carrots,
tomatoes, zucchini; all smaller than they should be
at this point in their growth cycle. Their lack of
exuberance is not from inadequate water, weeding or
sunshine, as one might expect. And because I
consider myself a kind-hearted farmer, I feel a
touch betrayed.
I imagine you’re wondering
where I’m going with this? I’m glad you asked!
This past week I was
feeling spiritually low. My faith and any sense of
God’s presence seemed null and void. It felt like my
prayers were going unanswered and my heart wasn’t
going and growing in the right direction. Have you
been there? I expect so.
When I stood at the foot
of my garden and stared down at my forlorn
vegetables, I suddenly realized why my greens were
small, spindly and unyielding. The answer was
simple—I wasn’t adding fertilizer. I was depriving
their roots systems of the nutrients they needed to
become bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It wasn’t any
fault of the plants or seeds they germinated from.
They were perfectly capable of growing to their full
potential had I done due diligence in their care.
It was then God pressed
upon my heart the reason for my spiritual doldrums.
I had been lax in reading my bible and lazy in
prayer. I had even allowed myself to become angry at
God for what felt like a heavenly shun. And like my
stilted garden, I had been starving my soul of the
nutrition it required to stay rooted in God’s love,
safe in his care—and open to receive his provisions
for all things related to my daily walk.
It’s simple logic my
friend. You can’t expect to feel close to God unless
you work at it. Yes, I’m guilty as charged. In our
busy lives, it’s easy to starve our souls of the
fertilizer needed to grow strong in faith and set
deep roots in our Saviour’s love. We need to
recommit daily to prayer, scripture and a quiet
heart. Okay, I’ll say it first. “I need to work
harder at my faith.”
Do you?
“The Lord will guide you
continually, giving you water when you are dry and
restoring your strength. You will be like a
well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.”
(Isaiah 58:11 NLT)
We are loved and cherished
by a Heavenly Father who wants nothing more than to
fellowship with us. He wants our time, our hearts,
and he covets our prayers. It’s our job to put out
the effort and to make our faith a priority.
“It’s not important who
does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s
important is that God makes the seed grow.” (1
Corinthians 3:7 NLT)
To reap a harvest, we must
cultivate our souls! With that said, I need to busy
myself and locate the garden fertilizer, and more
importantly—reach for my bible and open its pages.
There in lies a nutrient rich, seed to harvest
environment!
Paul Smyth