Crown Rose Instead of Crabgrass

Isaiah 61:1-3 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

Family: Violaceae (vy-oh-LAY-see-ee) (Info)
Genus: Viola (vy-OH-la) (Info)
Cultivar: Crown Rose

Spikes of crabgrass are starting to gingerly poke through my garden beds.  In other places in my garden, little leaf sprigs are hiding behind the mulch chips they pushed through.  Weeds masquerading as seedlings.  Did I plant flower seeds there, I wonder.  Oh no, what’s this place going to look like after we go on vacation?

Gardens and gardening are interesting things.  Not long after you establish a garden, it looks as if you haven’t been there at all.  Overgrown plants sagging with dead blooms, weeds defying the expensive mulch you laid, bugs eating holes in precious leaves.  My garden won’t be a garden unless I visit it often and care for the plants I have planted.  A little pruning over here.  A quick plucking of weeds over there.  Identifying and waging war--quickly--with harmful bugs.  What should we do about those beetles?  (Frantic Internet searching and 24-hours later: Better luck next year with my bean plants.) 

The other day I was thinking that we are very much like a garden.  We have allowed the Master Gardener to prune us, pull the weeds of sin, and destroy our enemies.  We are often looking rather spiffy after significant times with Jesus through opening up to wise friends, worshiping the Lord corporately, feasting on His Word, etc.  But then it’s not long before times of neglect allow things to grow right back to what they were and even bigger and more unruly.  We haven’t been letting the Master Gardener tend to us, as only He knows best.

As a novice gardener, I get frustrated at the thought of all my hard work being quickly consumed, of a beautiful space that I labored to create turning into a hill of weeds.  Then I think about God’s side of things.  God is ever forgiving of us.  Whenever we welcome Him back into the garden of our soul, He rolls up His sleeves, puts on His gloves, kneels in the dirt and starts working. 

I know God is the most glorious and powerful being in the entire universe.  He is to be feared, worshiped and honored above all else.  But He is not above gardening.   What brings me to tears and to places of surrender is picturing Him as a patient gardener, willing to take me as I am—culpable for the mess I am in—and nurture me.  From before I was born, He had a vision for my life to become a thing of beauty just as a gardener plans, plants, prunes and defends his garden.  Come, Lord Jesus, into our gardens today for every garden needs a Master Gardener.  Fill this world with the beauty of Your Kingdom here on earth.