The Flourish

MORNING WITH BEVERLY: Thursday 01-12-2017

The Flourish

 

Some of you may recall my rock garden.  It came to be when the family dog, DC, kept digging up my flowers to make himself at home in the dirt.  I got so miffed at him, I replaced the flowers with rocks.  That put an end to his canine diggin' days!

 

Jesus spoke of a garden-of-sorts in Luke 8 in what's called the Parable of the Sower.  "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” (Luke 8:5-8).  I do not claim to be, nor do I care to be, a gardener, but I know a healthy-looking plant doesn't always mean there's healthy root system.  What Charles H. Spurgeon says of spirituality can also be said of gardening: "Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time." Like plant growth, genuine spiritual depth happens neither quickly or easily. It happens rather when the heart's soil is tilled and rich.  Spurgeon asks, "Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus?" This is how Christians grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18)!  Let us make devoted and disciplined efforts each day to dig deep into study-prayer-meditation on Godly things.  Then watch the flourish!