Sunday Afternoon Tea

I realized this week that every man (woman) is a gardener.  I think there is something inherent in each of us... leftovers from Eden... that makes us smile when we see new growth... whether a ripe tomato, corn just picked, or Queen Anne's Lace on the side of the road.  We were created for the cycle of life, originally in perfection but enjoyed in its' current flawed state of being.

I have been feeding my compost pile the vegetables which were too bruised or ruined to use, both at picking and when too much time passed before I could get to them in the kitchen.  There is something about the compost pile which makes me not quite so unhappy about fruit and vegetables showing the affects of the Fall of Eden... that which is imperfect and dying used to bring new life to soil come next spring.

I've also been pondering attitude this week, how one can change their days by how they choose to face them.  One cannot always choose circumstances but we can make the choice in how we let them affect us.  As I officially passed from one age to another this week, I pondered years past as well as present and how my life turned out so differently than what I had planned.

No where in my five year, ten year, twenty year plans did I think I would meet my mid-fifties quite so poor financially challenged... strong in faith from having God's miracles show up just in time. I never wrote chronic illness on the white board and I always thought my husband would get better as time went on... not (by any means) worse.

There is something about working in the garden or lawn or pruning bushes or even dumping veggies on the compost pile that brings my mind to the Word of God... back to the Master Gardner's wisdom.  I can never ever look at a tree branch which has fallen in a storm... in time becoming all brown and withered... without thinking of the 15th Chapter of John's Gospel.

As I placed the veggies and pulled weeds and herb stems and that which was left from preparing meals (you know; that last bit of onion or carrot at the root, or egg shells, or coffee grounds, or the peels from the potato)... I thought how the compost pile was much like what our life is like.  Stay with me here even though your brain (fortunately) does not work as mine... :)

One never puts meat or bones or corn cobs or anything else on the compost pile which either doesn't disintegrate properly, poisons the soil, or would draw animals.  Instead we add that which was good but no longer can be used as it was originally grown.

That is what the attitude we bring towards our life will do... if we choose to keep it free of bitterness (toward God, people, and ourselves) then God can use the bad stuff to create good... Romans 8:28.  However, if instead we hoard within ourselves anger and bitterness and unbelief... it will turn only to rot and not fresh life-giving compost.

When we form a clear picture of life... which is only possible from the Word of God... we know this world is not all there is.  All we can take with us are those who have come to know Him through our influence and our Story... how we lived our life during the few precious years we have here on earth.

He doesn't ask for perfection, no... He took care of that on the Cross... as we invite Him into our life and ask for forgiveness... He makes us clean... as white as newly fallen snow in the Father's Eyes.  What He asks is us to live according to His Word... keeping us free from anger and bitterness and unforgiveness and fear.

That is only possible when we choose the attitude of laying all at His feet... not that we don't feel these... sometimes daily... but just as I placed the rotten veggies on the compost pile... I place the rotten emotions at His feet... and He makes something lovely out of my life.

Picture: Under the sunflowers, Robert Duncan; allposters.com