Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
I’m really not a gardener. This isn’t me being humble. Between killing most indoor plants and asking our landscaper for the “prettiest, easiest, no maintenance, comes-back-every-year option,” gardening is not my expertise. Last summer, my friend offered some plants when redoing a garden bed. I know, I should have transplanted the cute, free plants right away. But they sat in the plastic bag for probably too long. When I planted them, they were weathered and brown-ish. It felt pretty pointless. There didn’t seem to be any life left but I figured I owed it to my friend to at least plant them. The long leaves slumped down on the dirt, the physical manifestation of my gardening skills in full display.
I’m not being dramatic. It looked bad. Fall and winter came and went. No life. We figured we’d need to confess we killed these plants to our friends by the summer. It seemed liked a done deal. We added digging them up and tossing them into the woods to our summer list.
And yet, in June we noticed our little plants looked completely renewed. Again, I really don’t know anything when it comes to gardening but our gifted plants seemed normal. It felt very Lazarus-like. They were alive, happy… without any evidence of their previous dire state. As I mowed the lawn, God whispered the analogy.
That situation where things seem dead and dire? God is unraveling new life in His timing.
That circumstance that doesn’t make any sense; the withered plans? God is working in hearts that we might not see, in ways that are better than we can ask or imagine.
That relationship where reconciliation seems impossible? God is prompting and speaking, even if it isn’t in the way we want things “solved,” He promises that all things work together for Hisgood.
That timing that we’ve decided isn’t ideal? God sees the whole picture. We are not God; our job is to trust, even when it’s hard.
God takes the situations, the circumstances, the relationships, the timings that seem lifeless and hopeless, and uses them for His glory because He is the master gardener. He cultivates change. He redeems what seems like a lost cause. He brings forth new life in ways that often leave us breathless, fully aware that was something only our great God could do.
Will we trust that the Master Gardener is bringing forth new life in His timing?
There are a ton of garden references in Scripture, take time to read them. If you need a starting point, slowly read John 15 about Jesus’ analogy of being the vine.
