We had long ago cleared the area for a garden bed and now I was planting a new shrub in it. A strong feature of the bed was its stability. In spite of being on a steep slope and having all the rubbish cleared from the topsoil, it had not shifted or been washed away in heavy storms.

But digging was hard work. The soil was compacted and every time the fork went below the surface, it hit a rock. I tried digging around the rock by moving a little either right or left but it seemed the rock had an underground movement of going wherever I went. I simply could not avoid it and just had to deal with it from another angle. It was a case of either deal with the rock or leave the area.

I looked over the bed in despair. If the ground was so devoid of hospitality, how come there was a self-sown tree growing merrily right beside where I wanted to put my new shrub?

The tree had begun as a tiny seed on top of the soil. When it was very young, it put down tiny roots that went over and around and underneath the rock below the topsoil. Whichever way they went, the roots came face to face with the rock from another angle until the rock became embedded into their growth. The rock was essential to the stability of the tree as well as to the soil around it.

Something about this garden reminded me of Jesus planting a new garden. He is the rock that accompanied his people for forty years from slavery in Egypt to freedom, and gave them stability. They either dealt with the fact that he is the Rock on which everything is built or left the area and went back to slavery. ‘They drank from the supernatural rock that accompanied their travels – and that rock was Christ.’ 1st Corinthians 10:4.

Trying to get around Jesus by moving either left or right merely brings us face to face with him from another angle. We must put our roots down, over, around and underneath him until we incorporate him into every part of our lives if we want stability in our beliefs. Other builders might leave the area but “the stone which the builders rejected has become the main corner-stone” of our lives. Matthew 21:42.

Elizabeth Price reprice@dragnet.com.au