A Time of Gathering In ( The Parable of the Sower )
As the winds and colder temperatures blow in the change of seasons, I am reminded this is a time of life for gathering in and harvesting.
My father was a master Gardener. You know those people with green thumbs! Certainly not a trait I inherited, hard as I tried lol! Among my father’s favorite gardening tools were his old tattered work clothes and hat, a rusted hatchet, a sharp knife and his smelly homemade growth concoctions-fish emulsion and manure.
As I work today cleaning up my small garden I was reminded that we have so much to learn from this time and season of life. From the wisdom of the Gardener’s in our lives, those who know instinctively how to make things grow, how to prepare the soil just so, when to prune and when to let the soil rest.
In this time of gathering and harvesting, we each have our own work to do in life both figuratively and literally. Hard work we avoid because it is easier to stay in our comfortable places of life, rather than make the changes necessary to encourage personal growth and free our spirits to grow in new and healthy ways.
So today I have set aside some time for gathering myself and do some gardening with help of the Holy Spirit!
I have gathered around me the wellspring of new gifts this new season of life can provide. In reminders of sheer abundance, of the love and generosity God continues to pour out in my life daily. I have also discovered how I much I have neglected my own spiritual garden and allowed the weeds to slowly creep in.
Oh the hard work of pruning and spiritual decluttering must begin. The soil of the past needs to turned over and the messes I left behind need to be cleaned up. Forgiving and letting go of past hurts and life’s disappointments so new spaces and places are left open in my heart for the Master Gardener to do some new planting. And yes, I need to prune away the negative attitudes and weed out the patterns of life that are no longer useful, so new life has time to gather and a space to mature in this resting season of life.
I pray today you also take some time to do some work in your own spiritual garden and allow the Master Gardener the tools he needs to toil the soil of new life in you!
Blessings to you! Pastor Betsy