A Tale of Two Gardens

I found these stories about two very different gardens to be enlightening:



Story One

This year's garden has to be the best one we've ever had. Everything is growing like weeds (except the weeds are actually under control). The radishes came in much faster than we expected, and now the harvesting has begun. Cukes, squash, and basil are already coming in (with a few hopeful basil plants from seed that look forward to a new spot in the garden). The tomatoes are loaded! The green beans are full of blooms, and the okra is just where it needs to be. We have not had to water at all because the rain comes just in time.
Even better is the fact that we have been able to share the garden with others. Just yesterday, we had fresh herbs and veggies for supper with friends and were able to make a couple loaves of zucchini bread -- YUM! Friends have also made the garden easier to manage this year as we have had help from people hailing as far away as India, China ... even KENTUCKY! Even if we get nothing else from our garden, we have already been truly blessed.

Story Two

Wouldn't you know it, our garden is just a mess this year. Grass is EVERYWHERE! I wish I had weeds because they are easier to pull up than this infernal Bermuda Grass. I think that's part of the problem we've had so far this year. Of course, the radishes came up -- so hot that no one has been able to eat even part of one without gasping for breath. But along with the radishes came the grass and the bugs -- THE BUGS!!! I have already found squash bug eggs on the zucchini, and my wife and I have both found Mexican Bean Beetles on our green beans (they ate all the green beans before we could stop them last year). We might be able to keep the grass under control except for the rain. Every time we have the opportunity to work in the garden, it rains just hours before.
What's worse is that our kids show little interest at all in the garden this year. We use weeding (actually pulling grass) as a threat for punishment. Doesn't matter though, I seem to be a little "gardening impaired" this year, anyway. I have broken okra off at the ground, chopped down bean bushes, driven stakes through soaker hoses....I did not plant the peppers in a place for them to thrive like I wanted, and the few basil seeds we sowed that actually came up are going to die in the shade of the tomato plants. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had forgotten this crazy idea of a garden!

Here's the part I like: both gardens are the same garden! That's right. Both stories easily describe the little slice of Eden/Hades that I have intentionally planted beside the house. Each story is true, depending on the way I choose to look at the world and my place in it. Honestly, there are days when 'story two' tries to creep into my mind. The discouragement, the pessimism, and the cynicism are always ready to leap into service even before I call their names. But the Apostle Paul, I believe, would like 'story one' the best. In Philippians 4:8 he wrote,

"Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse." [The Message Translation]

Yes, things can be difficult, but God is with us and works for good in our lives (Romans 8:28). There is always more to celebrate than to commiserate. There is more given in grace than given for grumbling. There is always more life in Christ than loss in the world. So, I choose, today, to walk in the first garden -- the vision of things the way that God intends them. I will see the goodness, the grace, the extension of friendship and fellowship, and thank my God who provides them all (James 1:17).

Grace and Peace,

I feel a change is a-coming

For those of you familiar with the United Methodist system, let me assure you -- no, I am not talking about a move for me and my family. Good Lord willing, we will be re-appointed to the North Easley Charge in June.

No, the change I am talking about is more vague; a sense that God is preparing to do something big and different in the life of the churches. None of this should be unexpected. It is who we are in Christ. We are a people who are called to grow and to change more and more into the likeness of Christ. As I see the change a-coming, I recognize that it can be difficult at the same time. It makes me think of an article from the Kaleo Fellowship Web Site, kaleochurch.com by David Fairchild called“Life or death,” from May 2, 2004:

Some of us are confused about what it means “to live.”

We should have instinctively known life would be difficult. We were pulled out of a nice warm place, buck naked, in front of strangers, and spanked until we cry. That theme repeats itself for the next several decades.

Some of us have been told a lie that sounds something like this: Pray this prayer and your life will be wonderful. Your life will be filled with happiness and joy. Your life will look like a Hallmark card set in a Thomas Kincaid painting. You were lied to.

Someone may have had such zeal to get you to pray a prayer that he or she broke one of the commandments to get you to pray it!

Some of you may have also been told another lie — that Christ is a spiritual piñata and if you whack him with the right prayer stick, he’ll be forced to give you whatever you want. “Pray this prayer for 30 days and your borders will be increased.” The only thing that is proven to grow my borders after 30 days is eating McDonald’s. I have seen my borders grow before my very eyes! Yet I don’t see a book titled The Prayer of Ronald.

Only in an American culture would we expect a life without suffering, and life without pain, a life without difficulties ....

Jesus comes to Paul in dramatic circumstances and Paul is so changed by this experience and by the reality of Christ, that his life is flipped upside down and he is now living in response to another. That other is Christ.

But notice that Paul doesn’t say to live for Christ, he says to live is Christ. Christ is life.

When the time to change comes, it is often painful and costly. I have also discovered that the things which cost us nothing are all too often worth the price we paid -- nothing. Change challenges the things we hold dear; it calls us to re-examine our resources, where we currently pour our time and energy. We are dared to be bold in looking at our traditions and assumptions. We must be willing to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel so that we might find our life in Christ [Matthew 16:25].

I wish I had a catchy end for this blog; I don't. I simply feel a building tsunami waiting to wash away some stale, ineffective parts of my ministry to prepare the land for the new building by the Spirit of God.

—

In honor of Holy Humor Sunday

Peace and joy,
James


If Noah lived in 2010:

The Lord spoke to Noah and said, "In six months I am going to make it rain until the whole world is covered with water and all the evil things are destroyed. But, I want to save a few good people and two of every living thing on the planet. I am ordering you to build an ark." And, in a flash of lightning, he delivered the specifications for the ark. "OK," Noah said, trembling with fear and fumbling with the blueprints, "I'm your man."

Six months passed, the sky began to cloud up, and the rain began to fall in torrents. The Lord looked down and saw Noah sitting in his yard, weeping, and there was no ark.

"Noah!" shouted the Lord, "Where is My ark?" A lightning bolt crashed into the ground right beside Noah.

"Lord, please forgive me!" begged Noah. "I did my best, but there were some big problems. First, I had to get a building permit for the ark's construction, but Your plans did not meet their code. So, I had to hire an engineer to redo the plans, only to get into a long argument with him about whether to include a sprinkler system.

"My neighbors objected, claiming that I was violating zoning ordinances by building the ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning board.

Then, I had a big problem getting enough wood for the ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that I needed the wood to save the owls, but they wouldn't let me catch them, so no owls.

"Next, I started gathering up the animals but got sued by an animal rights group that objected to me taking along only two of each kind.

"Just when the suit got dismissed, the EPA notified me that I couldn't complete the ark without filling out an environmental impact statement on Your proposed flood. They didn't take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the Supreme Being. Then, the Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed flood plan. I sent them a globe!

"Right now, I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission over how many minorities I'm supposed to hire. The IRS has seized all my assets claiming that I am trying to leave the country, and I just got a notice from the state that I owe some kind of use tax. Really, I don't think I can finish the ark in less than five years."

With that, the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. "You mean you are not going to destroy the world?" he asked hopefully.

"No," said the Lord. "The government already has."

--Anonymous