Years ago…when my kids were still kids and living at home with me. We finally lived in a house we owned…a blank canvas ready for my creative ideas to come to life!
The backyard became my own little universe…creation, if you will for me to bring into existence. I ordered trees and plants from those seed catalogs we used to get in the mail. I would draw out my whole backyard on graph paper, carefully mapping out where each tree, bush or plant would happily grow. I could see it all in my mind…color bursting, ripe fruit ready for picking…my very own Garden of Eden and grocery store right out my back door.
The kids were so eager to help. They could see mom’s vision…as we carefully planted each seed and plant. We were excited…
And then August came…the garden was as tall as me…well the weeds were. The days were 100º and I was probably pregnant. All the excitement gone…the kids were nowhere to be found, yet I would head out to my overgrown Garden of Eden and pull the weeds….and uncover the my dream…it was not what I had imagined.
It was quiet…very well could have been my only quiet place at that time in my life. No one wanted to pull weeds. But I could think here…remember here…dream here. I could talk…to God here…and he would talk to me.
It reminds me of a song I remember my mom singing…
He Walks With Me
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The son of God discloses
And he walks with me and he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known
He speaks and the sound of his voice
Is so sweet, the birds hush their singing
And the melody that he gave to me
Within my heart is ringing
And he walks with me and he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known
~Merle HAggard
Amongst the weeds I am reminded who I am and whose I am. My creative heart was designed by the Creator himself. No matter the task…how large or small…how seemingly unimportant or important…I was made to create.
If it’s my bare hands in the dirt…fixing another meal for my family…telling stories to my children and grandchildren or a paintbrush in hand…I am designed to create.
One day the world we have been part of creating with our lives will be revealed in all of it’s amazing glory…and it will take our breath away!
“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
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That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.”
Romans 8:15-21 MSG