What Lawn Care is Teaching Me About God
CrossTalk
When it comes to lawn care, I wouldn't exactly say I have a green thumb.
I know how to mow, water, dig, and plant. I can keep things alive and looking decent but no one driving by our house would think our landscaping should be on the cover of Better Home and Garden.
But it's something my wife and I are actively trying to improve. We want to have beautiful landscaping. We want our home to enhance the neighborhood, not detract from it. But....we're still trying to figure out how.
There are two houses down the street who don't have this problem.
If we have B+ yards, they have A+ yards.
Their horticulture skills are on another level.
Nothing is ever out of place, there's never a weed in sight, and the all their plants are healthy, vibrant, and look like a magazine cover. If Better Homes and Gardens were visiting our neighborhood, these two houses would make the latest issue.
So every day we walk by. Every day we admire.
And on our daily walks, I've noticed something.
My Neighbors are Always Working
If my yard looked like these, I would stop, step back, and consider my work done.
Once it achieved that picture-perfect quality, our work would be done.
Right?
Not so with my neighbors.
Day after day, they're always outside.
Always working on their yards.
Watering, planting, pulling, spraying, digging, tending. Their yards are never a finished product. There's not a moment of completion. As living organisms are constantly shifting, so too the living plants outside.
My neighbors are teaching me that when it comes to tending for a yard, your work is never finished.
Without careful attention and good bit of sweat, everything will start to die.
It's true of our yards.
It's true of us.
My Father is Always Working
Jesus famously described the relationship between himself, his Father, and his disciples using the image of gardening.
In John 15:4-5, he says, “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The life of discipleship mirrors the vineyard. As living organisms, we cannot survive apart from deep roots in Christ. We need to abide to bear fruit and we need to be pruned to grow.
Like our landscaping, our souls need constant attention.
We never reach the point of completion. We’re in a “long obedience in the same direction,” moving toward divine perfection in Christ.
This is why Jesus said, "My Father is always working" (John 5:16).
Our souls need constant attention and care.
So don’t be alarmed when the Father prunes parts of your life. And don’t neglect abiding in him.