Gardens

“They will make gardens and eat their fruit” (Amos 9:14)

I tried it once.  It was the first time I ever had – and I must confess the last.  I’m talking about planting a garden.  I went to the store and loaded myself down with seeds that should have produced an abundance of vegetables and fruit.  I then went out into the backyard and dug up the soil, fertilized, planted the seeds, and watered.  Then every day I checked my little corner of the produce world, watered again, and waited.  Then I waited some more.  And some more.  The only thing that grew in my little garden were weeds.  Many weeds.  No vegetables – no fruits.  Only weeds.  I finally came to the conclusion that my thumb was anything but green.

So, I have decided to leave the gardening to God.  His gardens produce an abundance.  We are most familiar with two of God’s gardens in the bible.  That of the Garden of Eden, and the Garden of Gethsemane.  The first, Eden was created to bring man a blessed life and an abundance of everything they needed for their physical well-being.  The second, Gethsemane was the place of anguish for our Lord, yet the entrance into the greatest abundance of salvation and spiritual life man could possibly experience. 

But did you know about God’s special gardens that are on this earth now?  Ones that produce an abundance of produce and beauty that is shared around the world.  For 2,000 years the land of Israel became known as a land that could not be farmed.  War had plunged its’ agricultural heartlands into crisis mode.  It wasn’t that people didn’t try.  It was just that the land was so barren and desolate. 

But then, something wonderful happened.  At the end of the 19^th century, Jewish people began returning to their land.  And today, Israel is filled with vegetable fields, orchards, vineyards, botanical gardens, terraces, and over two hundred and eighty forests.  How did this marvelous transformation happen to God’s promised land?  How did so much beauty grow out of so much desert and desolation?  Very simple.  It happened because God said it would happen.  “New days are coming,” declares the Lord.  “New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile…..They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.” (Amos9:13-14)

For Israel their desert has become their Garden of Eden.  All because they were brought back to where they belonged, in the will and place of God.  When we allow God to align our lives and our hearts with his will, we too will produce an abundance of fruit and beauty.  We don’t have to be out digging in the dirt, trying to produce something in our weak flesh.  When we align or realign ourselves with the will of God, the abundance of a life of beauty and productivity will flow.  So, allow me to ask you – how does your garden grow?

                                                            Darlene