The Real Gardener

My mother is the real gardener.  She thinks that only certain plants are worth having in her garden.  She believes strongly that a plant’s utility is more important than its beauty or the ease of getting it to grow.  Even the plants she has planted are not safe, she trims back her rosemary so the asparagus can grow and thins out her tomato plants so they can actually produce tomatoes instead of just leafy, green jungle.
 
I am a wanna be gardener.  If plant has pretty flowers or leaves, I’ll keep it.  If it looks happy growing there, I’ll leave it.  I tend toward Darwin’s theory when it comes to plants: survival of the fittest.  So I just plant and let it go.  At the end of the season, if I get fruit, I am thrilled; but if I don’t, I am not too broken up over it.  And yes, even I know that my gardening theories do not tend to encourage the production of produce…something to do with weeds and imposters and lack of actually tending.
 
My problem is this: I find it tempting to approach life very similarly to the way I garden.  If a habit looks pretty, I’ll let it stay…  If something in my life is bringing me success, I’ll keep it…  I let the chips fall where they may as far as how I invest my time and talents…  Any fruit I get is a bonus and if there is nothing to show for my choices, well, I wasn’t betting on it anyway.
 
Praise God, He is not me – He is the ultimate gardener.  John calls Him the vinedresser (John 15).  My mom has good gardening experience, but God knows all things.  He knows how much water and how much sun to allow to cultivate the best harvest in our lives.  He knows how much to trim and thin and train.  That pretty little habit, may need to be uprooted.  That showy plant that everyone admires…it may need to be trimmed back to make room for what God admires.  He trains his vines to grow on a trestle not just randomly flop all over the corner plot.  And He expects fruit.
 
If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, you have a caring, invested Gardener.  I know I do.  The question is will we fight His hand and methods or grow fruitful under them?