Apr 28 2009
What Are You Doing To Grow?
“Something is wrong with my garden,” Jenny’s troubled blue eyes met the green ones of her friend Karen across her coffee cup. “I can’t figure it out.”
“What do you mean?” Karen frowned.
“I have a few shoots of corn, one scrawny tomato plant, half a dozen bean plants and a few squash. I planted hundreds of seeds. I just can’t figure it out!”
“There has to be a reason. Think about it. What have you done? What are you doing?” Karen asked.
“I dug a nice seed bed, planted my seeds, gave them a little fertilizer and some water. I can’t think of anything else I should have done.” Karen moaned.
“Huh, sounds right. What do your plants look like?”
“Green and brown.”
“Green and brown? Brown doesn’t make sense. Does it look like something has been snacking on them?”
“No. They’re just turning brown and going all droopy - well, except for the weeds. They look great!”
“Weeds,” Karen exclaimed. “Are you pulling the weeds?”
“I did, but it seems they just keep coming back. I thought I’d let them get bigger and then tackle them all at once.”
“Jenny, I know this is your first garden, but surely someone told you a garden takes time and effort.”
“Sure, but I didn’t think it’d be so much work. Every time I water the weeds grow. Every time I pull the weeds some others take their place. So, I have this plan. I’ll only water my garden once a week. Then the weeds won’t grow so fast. Then maybe it won’t take soooo much time!”
Karen starred at her friend amazed. “I’m can’t believe your garden is growing anything. If you’re going to call that ‘taking care of it’, you might as well quit. You’re only going to end up with weeds in the end, anyway!”
The gardeners among us cringe. No ‘serious’ gardener would treat their plot with such contempt. We all know the time and effort and energy a good garden requires. However, few of us apply this to our Christian walk. We may spend hours nurturing our plants, applying just the right amount of fertilizer, keeping the soil moist but not wet with proper watering, and diligently attacking any weeds which dare to invade our garden plot. Yet, do we expend even a fraction of the effort caring for our eternal souls?
Guard your heart
be diligent to make your calling and election sure
meditate
walk
ponder
pray
“Hypocrisy in one age is generally succeeded by Atheism in another.” Joseph Addison
“While the vast majority of Americans claim to be Christian. . .a good many of us don’t seem capable of explaining what that means. . .It shouldn’t surprise us if Christians who can’t articulate what they believe have children and grandchildren who don’t even bother to try. . .What we are in danger of — in our country, in our churches, in ourselves — is practical atheism. This is not a considered embrace of godlessness. It is instead the slow slide into lives where God is irrelevant. . .Practical atheism isn’t limited to people who abandon church; it extends to all we who drift from Christ, even as we dutifully attend Sunday services. It’s in the brief morning prayer that eventually becomes no prayer at all. It’s in the way we emulate men rather than the God-man. It’s in the way we brood, as if the things that vex us don’t pass through the hands of a loving God.” (Tony Woodlief - “Practical Atheism” - World Magazine April 25, 2009)
