REMEMBERING

I was just thinking back to what got me started with a flower garden. It all started when we moved into a house and we noticed that the house on the corner had hollyhocks all along their fence. It was amazing to see all the wonderful colors displayed. While walking past I noticed that many little plants were coming up in the grass on the boulevard so I knocked on their door to ask permission to take a few. When I was told it was city property and they just mowed the plants down I dug out a half dozen plants and went home to dig up a small spot at the front of our new home. Well, I have never looked back to the days when we had no flowers in our yard. Before long I had dug up the entire front yard and filled it with every kind of flower I could find. I put up an arch over the front pathway and it began to resemble an English garden.

With raising ten children I had my hands full at times and the flower garden has been a gift from God to relax me and help me to face the next problem. While working in the beds I found time to be alone with the Lord and His presence gave me the peace to go on. My friends wondered at my sanity when I told them weeding was my favorite job next to doing dishes but have you ever noticed that when you do these jobs everyone seems to suddenly disappear and you find yourself all alone. Gary wrote a poem called Quiet Time many years ago which expresses so completely how difficult it is to find time alone to be with the Lord. I will include it

QUIET TIME

A quiet time alone each day
Is what one needs, a time to pray.
Too oft, the world goes rushing by,
Heeding not their souls heart cry.
And burdens seem to greater grow
If seeds of prayer we do not sow.
Seems to be such a simple task,
Just to pray and only ask
Our God above to lend an ear
To all the problems pressing near;
But just you try a prayer or two,
And see what work it is to do!
So may the best-planned project of your day
Be that quiet time you take to pray.

© Copyright Gary James Smith 1995
garyjamessmith2005@yahoo.ca

HATE CUTTING GRASS

We have often lived in homes with small yards and did not always have a lawnmower. This caused for a lot of stress as it grew and looked very shaggy. At times I would go out and cut it on my hands and knees with a knife or a pair of scissors. As you can imagine it was rather tedious.

I decided to dig up along our house to plant a few hollyhocks which were growing along the roadside. Soon I thought to make the spot wider and before I knew it I had dug my way to the sidewalk and my husband questioned my sanity.

However when people started coming for many blocks extending their walking distances and biking run to stop and chat about the flowers he was amazed. He then realized that the Lord could use this as a ministry to the needs of others. I heard comments like, "When that plant goes to seed can I have some?" or "I see you don't have a certain plant and if I would stop over to their home I could have a piece to transplant". They all told me how beautiful it looked and I cannot remember ever hearing anyone say, "My, what a lovely lawn you have."

It came to look like an English garden and I splurged and bought myself an archway and used some scrap boards to make myself a short fence to encase the plants so others would know not to walk there until the plants got established.

My husband now asks, "Where do you want me to dig?" and no longer questions my sanity.

SPREAD THE SEEDS

Today I attended a Going Away Party for a friend in the Lord and this time was such a blessing to my husband and myself. The testimonies and songs to show appreciation for her influence and effect on lives touched our hearts in a special way.

But the one thing that stood out was one lady's comments on how they had decided to put packages of seeds in the center of each table with seeds sprinkled around. This represented how this woman spread the seeds of the gospel into the lives of all those she met. This is our purpose for being here on this earth and it was such a simple illustration of faithfulness.

We need to wake each morning with the desire in our heart to represent our Lord and Saviour to others. We don't know what the results will be but it is our responsiblity to speak the Word in love. We never know what will speak to a heart and reach an individual for the Kingdom.

Being an avid gardener and knowing the excitement of the sprouting of these little tiny seeds, imagine how much more of an impact when it is a life of those we meet through our lives. To think it means where they will spend eternity should make us stop and take the time to talk to others.

It is so easy for us to get caught up in the busyness of the day and failing to look around for the needs of others. May we each pray as we start our day that the Lord will lead us to those He wants us to talk to and the words to share with them. They need to first see Jesus in our lives and know that we care for them as individuals.