<Ripping out, to replant

Almost everything I know about life I learn while working in my garden. This spring I spent some time with my mother-in-law on her patio. When I first stepped out it looked like this.



and this:



My life looks like this – A LOT. There are parts of me that I do not keep up. I ignore areas that need to be spruced up. I get lazy about important areas that cry out for constant attention. I get lazy and pretty soon I look like this.



This happens when we become complacent and comfortable. We forget the importance of removing the old and dead. We relax and allow life to settle to the lowest common denominator.

I believe moving keeps us on our toes. It forces us to look at ourselves, clean up our acts, remove the untidy, cut away that which no longer produces, snip away the unattractive aspects of our characters, forcing us to begin anew.

Oh yes it hurts. We throw away portions of our lives and say good-bye to yesterday. It is hard work and we mourn what we must bury.

It is worth it all, though. After a day of trimming, cutting, throwing, cleaning, the patio looked like this.



I have never wanted to move, but God from his heaven has looked down and in His infinite wisdom has noticed the ugliness in my life that I have begun to accept. Like a master gardener, He has determined what must go and how it has to be removed.



He has also devised a plan. He knows what my life will look like when I settle in my new pot and begin to grow. He knows that the day will come when my light will shine again.