The Gardner

There’s a Saturday morning farmers’ market that runs during this season not far from my house. After an early morning gathering I attend each week, I like to stroll through the local produce stands to see what’s been pulled from the fields. The honey, the mushrooms, the variety of fruits and vegetables—all of it just makes me feel good. Of course, I have to sample a few things, too.

One particular day, I found a beautiful array of locally grown chrysanthemums. I bought a purple, yellow, and orange one to fit into my front yard display.

In the early morning hours, if you drive by our house, you’ll likely find me watering the plants. I love colorful flowers and consider myself the keeper of the front garden blooms. I may not be an expert, but I enjoy trying to keep things alive. The fall season, with its golden-colored plants, sunflowers, and purple asters, comes into its own. I try to add a few eye-catching potted plants to fill in the gaps left by the fading summer geraniums and begonias. Aren’t you impressed with my flower names? Thank goodness for spell check.

The always-beautiful and graceful deer that I so enjoy watching eat acorns in the backyard become my ever-present nemesis under cover of darkness in the front. Even in these twilight mornings, I can see the damage they’ve wrought—random patches chomped out of my newly purchased blooms. Argh!

I’ve learned over the years that there are certain aromatic plants deer tend to avoid. Lavender is one. I planted a few plugs a few years back, and they’ve grown into small bushes beautifully.

In recent weeks, I was pruning them back, planning to use the cuttings to protect my new plants from those nightly visitors. After finishing, I left a few bundles lying on the ground. The freshly-shorn lavender caught Jen’s eye, and she said, “What did you do to the lavender?” It was not a happy look, and she seemed disappointed. I was quick to explain that I’d just been pruning, and that the plants would come back more robust in the spring.

He who knows us best loves us most, and our lives are in His hands

She seemed wary—and rightly so. I’ve cut back all kinds of plants in our yard, not always with success. In fact, there’s a lilac bush on the corner that I swear quivers every time I walk by with my shears. However, with lavender, I actually know what I’m doing, having proved it over the years.

I’m sure if those lavender plants could talk, they’d say, “Hey, what’s the deal? Why so harsh? What did we do wrong?” But the gardener has a vision of what his garden can look like. He knows what will happen in the next growing season if he cuts back now. He doesn’t explain it, he just does what’s necessary.

Few things are harder to endure than pain without understanding, or correction that feels unjustified. It feels natural to raise a fist and fight back, and sometimes that’s appropriate. But for those who trust in the Lord, our confidence must rest in Him. He who knows us best loves us most, and our lives are in His hands. He’s the Good Gardener, as well as the Good Shepherd.

Some of you are in a cutting season and feeling confused or frustrated. You might ask, “What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?” Is this the enemy battling against me—like those marauding deer under cover of darkness?

Maybe. But it’s easy to mistake the Gardener’s pruning for the enemy’s attack.

Every experience we face holds the opportunity to change us—if we let it touch us deeply. That takes time. Our quick assessments don’t always land true.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that if we wait on it, pray through it, and respond differently because of it, the Lord will bring beauty out of it. It will produce “a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

I love taking the cuttings of lavender and rubbing them in my hands. The fragrance that lingers reminds me that better things are still to come.

I think Peter knew what he was talking about when he said, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time.” — 1 Peter 5:6

Got some cutting going on? Are you staring at frustration or confusion? Me, too. Let’s not complain about it, let’s be trained by it.