in His garden.

These past couple of weeks in Jeffrey’s Bay South Africa, my team and I partnered with an organization called Timion. Timion builds equipment for children that have Cerebral Palsy; simultaneously providing physical and occupational therapy services to the children. The equipment that they build is custom made with each one crafted specifically for the child.

Last year during COVID, the founder Daniel, felt like there was an importance in building a garden for the employees on the land that they had already purchased to expand their factory. This not only provides produce, but also encourages the staff to become more self sustainable in their own lives. We, as Team Golden Girls, had the opportunity to assist in the needs of this garden. 

Since it has been Holiday here in JBAY, a lot of employees are not working, so that they can enjoy time with their family. Therefore, we had the garden to ourselves most of the time, which allowed for a lot of time to sit with Jesus… in His garden. 

I have heard several times in past sermons about our hearts being a garden for Him, and sometimes there are weeds in our lives that we need to pull from it. Immediately, during our first day we began to weed the garden; trust me there was an infinite supply of weeds to pull. Hours went by, and every weed I tried to pull was either extremely difficult or it would not all come out at once. It was frustrating, because I knew that if you did not get the base of the weed the likelihood it would return was pretty high. 

Weed after weed, asking God what it meant. Are there weeds or rooted issues that I need to pull out in my life? It is a question all of us can settle in to create an atmosphere for self reflection, but for me when I asked I heard nothing in response. 

The next day was similar. The ground was so dry that the weeds continued to split, and I actually caught myself digging and digging into the ground to get the weeds, but only resulting in a big mess. In my excessive digging I lost the roots, and all I had was a big hole to show for it. Then, I heard Him. 

“Don’t dig if I am not asking you too. The ground is not ready, but it will be.”

The ground isn’t ready, and also we aren’t always ready. I was on my knees in the mess that I created, because I thought that I could still get to it regardless of time. I know that the weeds have to come out, of our lives and of this garden, but we have to wait in for the right time. So in the meantime, what do we do? 

WE ENJOY HIS GARDEN. We harvest the crops that are ready, we eat more beets than we should, we pick strawberries, and we prepare the ground in other areas for seeds. We simply enjoy it, and allow ourselves to thrive in what God has already produced and redeemed in our lives. 

And you know what, just a few days later we received so much rain (that our house actually flooded), and returned the following morning to the garden. Weed after weed, with its entire root system, would pull from the ground with little effort. The ground was ready, it was saturated in such a way that we pulled more weeds in that one afternoon than we did those first few days. 

Thanks God. 

So what’s the big lesson, the big takeaway? 

Allow God to prepare the ground of the garden, and trust in the timing. Don’t force yourself to “process” or “dig up” things that He isn’t asking you too, or better yet that you might not be ready for. In His timing, it will come out, and it will happen all at once. So in the meantime, I invite you to celebrate and give thanks for all that He has already given to you. 

xoxo 

d 

https://www.timion.org/home/products/equipment/Sitting_Devises/positioning-chair