A   Planting  of  the   Lord

©2006 Cheryl Floyd

… a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. – Isaiah 61:3

Guam is a beautiful, lush tropical island. Plenty of sun and rain. Everywhere you look flourishing exotic foliage abounds. I am amazed when I see fern grow up out of the ground like weeds. The humidity is perfect for them. But trying to plant something yourself is another matter. You see, Guam grows what it

 wants.

As you pull your trusty shovel out of the shed with a gloved grip you make your way to the spot you’ve spent days mapping out for your new garden. It rained all morning; groundbreaking will be easy. Your garden should do well with little effort in this climate. Rain falling often ensures irrigation. The weather is a balmy 87 degrees or so all year. You can hardly wait to sit on your porch and sip ice tea as you take in your own personal paradise. You lift your spade with all vigor and… CLUNK. It barely makes an indention. Stuck, you wriggle it back and forth trying to force it deeper. With little progress you decide to try again. Maybe you hit a bad spot. Your device divulges the devastating dilemma: clay. Red clay. You pause in your dismay. What to do with all the plants you’ve purchased? You are certainly not going to fight with red clay all day. You’re not as young as you used to be. We’ll just rework the schematics. Now on the other side of the yard you lift high your scalpel and with renewed determination you descend. CLANK! Now a strange, white, rocky surface mocks you from the shallows. A super hard rock foundation indigenous to Guam. In its former life it was living and active coral. Now much of the island has an underlying foundation of this ashen, dead stone material. For much of the rest of the afternoon you spend your time making divots in your lawn in the hopes of finding one patch of plantable earth. But to no avail. Heart heavy, store-bought plants drooping, you head for the house in despair. What was going to be a beautiful awe-inspiring garden will be no more than dried up shrubs for the garbage in a few days. How could a land so lush be so impregnable? Guam grows what it wants.

What about you? Do you recognize any of the above characteristics in yourself? At first glance plush, alive, teaming with spiritual vigor, “drinking in the rain falling often on the land. (Heb. 6:7)” But to whose benefit? When the Lord comes to plant does he find difficult ground? Does his shovel stick in your ho’s and hums, murmurings and complaining? Has he breeched that shallow surface of soul only to find bitterness, unforgiveness, doubt or despair where once there was faith and abounding life?

Or do your own eyes deceive you? Are you mesmerized by the flora and fauna of your world believing it to be Godly? Do you think because you practice religion you have relationship? Have you stopped lately to notice when the last time God planted something in your life? Are you so proud of being self made that you forgot you were created to be made in God’s image and not an idol cast by human hands-even if those hands be your own? That work can only be accomplished by the Master Gardener. You may have planted many things and brought yourself out of the muck and the mire but you are no closer to the peace that surpasses understanding only crafted by the Lover of your Soul. Your work may be splendid, but it is His planting that displays His splendor. That is what a garden is for: displaying the splendor of the one who planted it. You may seem very fertile till someone challenges your crop. Hebrews 6:7 tells us: blessed is the land that produces a good crop useful to those for whom it is planted. We are all to bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Where there is rocky ground, allow God to loosen and soften it. He may even break it up and replace the hard, dry places. Allow the Holy Spirit to give you new ways to deal with bad situations. Instead of complaining and remaining, praise God and be raised to a better place. God’s spirit will teach you how to be thankful in hard times, and how to combat “stinkin’ thinkin’”. Learn to forgive and let God deal with people. So much peace can be obtained just by trusting God with people. All of this is like God tilling in new soil and causing your land to prosper! God’s word will be your fertilizer giving you the power to grow. When you submit yourself under the mighty hand of God trusting him to plant what is best in your life you will truly become a display of his splendor and a planting of the Lord.