The Potting Bench

 

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

It's such a beautiful spring. The trees have leafed out. The flowers are blooming. Oh! You haven't slowed down enough to notice? It's time to go out and soak up the sunshine and observe God's beautiful creation. 

The Lord gives us examples of our relationship to him with daily visuals through His creation. My friend, Beth King Fortune loves gardening and she loves the Lord. This spring she published The Potting Bench, 60 Daily Garden Devotions with the Master Gardener, available on Amazon or at her local book signings. Each devotion is divided into four short section, an example of her gardening adventures, a Prayer, a Digging Deeper section that gives application and Over the Fence, her gardening tips. A beautiful photograph, which she took, accompanies each devotion with an appropriate scripture.

Beth titled Day 11, Abiding. Her key verse is John 15:5. Her example was pruning her clematis. She kind of overdid it. Her prayer was one of thankfulness that Jesus is our life source. Her digging deeper section was how she severed the branch from the vine and the vine wilted. Just as we must stay connected to the Lord daily to receive the spiritual nourishment we need to bear fruit as the Lord intends.

Her Over the Garden Fence is about the planting and care of clematis.

Each devotion is a quick reminder of how we can be planted in the Lord's garden and bear fruit for Him.

I recommend Mrs. Fortune's devotional for that quick reminder before we start out the door into the fields that are ripe, ready for harvest.

Heavenly Father, please keep me connected to You and make me aware of how I might bear fruit for you. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Giving up our Children

 

Photo by Aditya Romansa

Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. ~I Kings 3:27

In the story of King Solomon, two new moms who were prostitutes brought their babies to the king. One mom had lain on her baby in the night and smothered it. She had taken her dead baby and swapped it for the other mom's living baby. Now they argued before the king.

King Solomon sounded cruel when he asked for a sword to divide the living child in two but in reality he was revealing the heart of the true mother. She was willing to give up control of her child's life to save her baby. King Solomon returned the child to her because he knew only a real mother would be willing to give up her child for its life. 

As moms, we give up a lot for our children, even our own bodies. We, to protect our babies, give them everything life has to offer, and hold them close, but are we willing to give them up for the sake of their lives? for the sake of their souls? We must give them up to the king, the King of kings if we want life for our babies. What would that look like? 

• Are we too tired to read a Bible story to our children each night? 
• Are we praying with them and for them?
• Are they involved in activities that would take them away from church, activities we feel would give them a better chance in life? 
• Are we willing to have less so we can raise our children instead of giving them up to others?  Prov 22:6
• Are we giving them our undivided attention when they want/need to talk to us? Deut. 11:19

We may not be the best mom just as the mom in our story wasn't the perfect mom. She wasn't married. Other moms probably wrote her off as unworthy of their company.  She lived as a prostitute but she was willing to give up her baby if it meant giving her baby life. 

Can we do better? How can we give our children to the King of Kings even when it means sacrificing the things we think are important to us? 

Maybe your toes feel stepped on. I know mine do. Maybe we feel like it's too late. It's never too late to give our children to the King of Kings. 

Heavenly Father, may I be willing to turn loose of control and let you have control of my children. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Dandelions in the Kingdom

 

picture by Manfriedrichter

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. ~Malachi 4:2

As children, we lay in the fields and picked dandelions, blowing the puff balls across the field or making crowns with the yellow flowers. As adults, we try to rid them from our lawns and gardens, calling them weeds. Weeds indeed! The deep roots plow through the soil, loosening it to let the rain reach the grass and garden plants. We deprive our children of lazy days of enjoyment in nature while learning the natural way of seed distribution and plant reproduction. Ah, but to the point. Dandelions are another reminder that creation speaks of the Creator, and they speak of us. 

Rooted and grounded deep in the soil, the dark green leaves show off the single orange flower head, whose stem is hollow to uptake water and nutrients in the soil. The flower soon changes to a ball of fluff whose seeds are carried by the wind across lawns and fields to bring a rebirth of the flower in another place. So what does that have to do with you and me? 

• Deeply Rooted - We need to be deeply rooted in God's word. The Word gives us the nutrients we need to grow as Christians. It is the Water of Life. 
• Yellow Gold - The yellow gold flower head in the middle of the whorl of dark green leaves speaks of the King's crown, in the center of our lives. We are the living body of leaves surrounding our hearts, which carries Jesus as the center of our lives. 
• Seed Distribution - As the flower matures, it shoots up a hollow stem that carries water and nutrients to the seeds that form around the center of the flower. The seeds grow and mature until they are blown away to another place for another time, just as we should be maturing and raising our children to be the seeds transplanted to another place and time. A place and time to raise another godly generation.

Sometimes we may feel that the seeds have flown without their purpose, but remember that not all flowers bloom at the same time. The living word you have implanted in those children will not be forgotten. In God's time, they too will produce another generation for the Lord. 

Heavenly Father, help us keep You at the center of our lives. Help us show Jesus to our children in our daily living. Help us implant Your word in their minds so their thoughts, their deeds, their ethics are demonstrations of You. May they see these same examples in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.