Some of you will have guessed by now that I love nature and gardens. I mostly garden without gloves on because I like to feel the soil. Today I went to Whisby Garden Centre and spent a lovely time wandering round looking at all the plants. This year everything seems to grow while we watch them. The combination of the rain and the relative warmth has been perfect for plants and of course the weeds and the grass. It seems that we have only just put the lawnmower away and we are getting it out again. The extra rain will benefit us next year as well, I think. Plants like hydrangeas need plenty of water the previous year to thrive with lots of blooms. When I was enjoying myself at the nursery, I thought how much of a sameness are gardens and gardening and a life in faith. In faith we have weeds and plants growing together. The weeds are the things we, or others, do that we don’t really think are right. But we can pull them up, sometimes easily, sometimes more effort is needed. Of course, the weeds regrow just the same as we make bad decisions again, but we can continue to remove them. The plants grow and show lovely faces the same as we do as we flourish. Sometime the paths get overgrown, and we need to clear them out so we can see where we are going and get there with more ease. We need watering and feeding in the same way as plants. We all know that you don’t need to attend church to be a Christian, but we do need some input to keep us replenished. Services online or on the radio, reading scriptures or Christian books (even novels), talking, or listening to others speaking of faith matters, all of these can also feed and water us. On that note I will leave you to contemplate your garden (or your neighbours) and hopefully think about a garden of faith.
God Bless
Maureen Kendall