The Lord’s Garden.
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.
These newly-built raised beds are waiting. They first waited for soil. Now they wait for seeds, for life, for growth, and for fruit. I was late getting these built, but I am planning what they will contain. Strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and assorted vegetables.
Long ago, “The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden…” Genesis 2:8, New International Version. These opening chapters of Scripture amaze me. At the close of each creative day, the Lord saw that ‘it was good.’ On the last day, he saw the whole of his creation and proclaimed, ‘it was very good’. I find myself thinking, ‘The Lord’s omniscience didn’t let the future perversion of creation, through humanity’s sin, spoil his appreciation of his handiwork.’
We are God’s handiwork today. We are the result of his creative act through the Gospel. We are a new creation. We are not the soil. That is Jesus. Our roots sink deeply into him. We gain real spiritual nourishment as we delve into the Word, settling roots down into the fertile soil of our Lord.
The world is waiting for the appearance of the daughters and sons of the Lord. It is waiting every day. Every day we ‘re-enter’ the world, rising from restful sleep to seed the world with the Word of the Lord who dwells within us.
That’s what these empty beds remind me of. The world awaiting us. Awaiting you. These raised beds are not sentient, of course. The people awaiting us are sentient indeed, but many of them do not know they are waiting. They do not know the surprise of God’s love, grace, and mercy that is coming their way in you, and in me.
What a wonder it is that God includes us not just in his family, but in his work of planting the seed of the Word, of helping water and nourish real spiritual growth, and of enjoying the harvest of praise that is the people of God.
Look around you today. Where is someone waiting…for you and Jesus?
Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO
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