Tending Roses and the Garden of Our Hearts

Sam's wife, Jamie, loved flowers in her yard, and she was terrific at growing them. Jamie used a technique that might have helped me over the years. She planted one at a time and carefully tended it until it was well established and growing.

Jamie loved roses. She had two red rose bushes, one planted on either side of her front stoop. I'm ashamed to admit how many roses I've planted. In general, they haven't done well, mostly because they were more trouble than they were worth to me.

When I stopped by Sam's house this past weekend, I was stunned. Jamie's roses are nearly to the roof and are filled with healthy, beautiful flowers. 

Jamie understood that plants need care if they are to thrive. She wanted them to thrive, so she tended them. She provided what was needed to make them grow and bloom. She treated disease before it was widespread. 

Her attention made a difference.

In Jesus' parable of the sower, He talked about the conditions into which the seed was planted. If the soil wasn't right, the seed wouldn't grow. When the good news of Jesus lands in hearts, He said, it wouldn't take root unless conditions were favorable. 

When the conditions in our heart aren't optimal, His word can't take root and yield a harvest in our lives, either. If we gave our hearts the kind of attention Jamie gave her roses, it would be a different matter. She sprayed her roses to rid them of disease, carefully picked off insects, fertilized, pruned as needed. She tended her flowers.

I'm left wondering if I tend my heart the way I tend my roses. Poorly. It's a surprise every time those roses bear flowers, and it's no wonder. If I sprayed, fertilized, and pruned the way Jamie did, I'd have better roses.

If I did that in my own heart, I'd likely have a better, more God-like heart, too. Are there pesty sins that need to be removed? Dead wood that needs pruning? Do I need the fertilizer of God's Word and Bible study? 

What would it take to make my heart a healthy garden in which God's word can flourish? What would it take for your heart?

Today, let's do a heart-check and tend the garden of our heart. If we give them the attention we should, a garden of God's making is sure to grow and we, too, can yield a harvest.

And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Matthew 13:23 nasb

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Unexpectedly grateful heart part 5

Some years ago, my cousin gave me a stem in a black plastic pot for Christmas. I thought, "What in the world is this?" Much to my surprise, it turned out to be something wonderful. It was a rooted cutting from my grandaddy's rose. It was a special rose that he really wanted, but times were hard and finances were tight, so he wouldn't spend the money to purchase it. My aunt ended up buying it for him and he cherished that climbing red rose. Somewhere along the way, my aunt had taken a cutting, rooted it, and had grown a lovely rose of her own. I'd always admired her rose, but never realized exactly what a treasure it was. My cousin had done the same thing for me.

I was intrigued, but a little skeptical. My grandaddy had been dead for fifty years. I was very young when he died, so I didn't really remember him. It was hard to believe I could grow his rose, but I planted it at the entrance to my herb garden, next to a little arbor. I was surprised when the climbing stem began to grow. I was stunned when the roses began to blossom!  The branches were loaded with deep red blooms that exuded the most remarkable fragrance.  

It's an odd rose, though. Sometimes it blooms at the most unusual times, rather than when I expect it. Earlier this week, I headed to the barn and a flash of red caught my eye. The rose was blooming, and once again I was overwhelmed by the connection from one generation to the next. This rose connects three generations of my family in the most unusual way. My grandaddy and my aunt are gone, but their rose reminds me of them in the sweetest way. 

That rose also teaches me some important lessons about my family. We sacrifice for one another. Times were as hard for my aunt as for my grandaddy, but she made a way. In my family, we love the outdoors, working with our hands, and gardening. We accept responsibility for each other. It's a big job to protect and care for that rose, but if we don't do it, there won't be a rose for my grandchildren. We don't mind thorns because they always come with roses. It's a lesson that's served me well in life. In my family, we share. It took some effort to root that rose for me, but that's what we do. 

I've already started trying to root the rose. I'm pretty sure my grandaddy would want the next generation to have it too. One day, I hope to give green stems in black plastic pots of my own. Until then, I'm grateful to be the custodian of my family's rose.