Gardens in Life
Luke 11:39 says, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and wickedness!"
Chloe spent the first half of the summer carefully tending her tomato garden. After about a month, I had to remind her every day to go weed it. After that second month, I decided to let her 'earn' her own trouble by not reminding her to cultivate her garden. After all, she had paid for the plants and soil with her allowance. Her tomato plants were growing beautifully by then and they were enormous! The tomatoes on the outside looked great, but it seemed like they were taking a very long time to turn red. It hasn't helped a bit that this "summer" was so cold. It only got above 80 for a couple of weeks and then not consistently or any amount of days in a row. So, one day I got out there to mow, weed-eat, and tackle Chloe's garden. I started pruning the tomato plants in the hopes of salvaging a tomato or two, but when I moved the outer leaves, I saw that the inside of the plants were rotten. Every tomato hanging inside the canopy was brown and withered and there were slugs everywhere. I have to admit that I immediately thought of this verse in Luke, because the outside of those plants was gorgeous!
It is often we, ourselves, who are like this. God always shows me that no matter how I might want to decorate the outside, it's the inside that shines the most. It could be 5am, and me with my puffy eyes, crazy hair, and sleep-lined face, and yet when my husband sees me and I give him my best grin, he says, 'You're beautiful.' 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Apparently it helps with husbands too. :)
I think I'm learning more and more how to be gentle because God is introducing more and more "gentle of spirit" women into my life. It is easier to behave when people around me are so nice. The bad news is that I don't have a "quiet" spirit....yet. The good news is, God knows my heart and He's not finished with me! (1 Samuel 16:7) :)
Chloe spent the first half of the summer carefully tending her tomato garden. After about a month, I had to remind her every day to go weed it. After that second month, I decided to let her 'earn' her own trouble by not reminding her to cultivate her garden. After all, she had paid for the plants and soil with her allowance. Her tomato plants were growing beautifully by then and they were enormous! The tomatoes on the outside looked great, but it seemed like they were taking a very long time to turn red. It hasn't helped a bit that this "summer" was so cold. It only got above 80 for a couple of weeks and then not consistently or any amount of days in a row. So, one day I got out there to mow, weed-eat, and tackle Chloe's garden. I started pruning the tomato plants in the hopes of salvaging a tomato or two, but when I moved the outer leaves, I saw that the inside of the plants were rotten. Every tomato hanging inside the canopy was brown and withered and there were slugs everywhere. I have to admit that I immediately thought of this verse in Luke, because the outside of those plants was gorgeous!
It is often we, ourselves, who are like this. God always shows me that no matter how I might want to decorate the outside, it's the inside that shines the most. It could be 5am, and me with my puffy eyes, crazy hair, and sleep-lined face, and yet when my husband sees me and I give him my best grin, he says, 'You're beautiful.' 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Apparently it helps with husbands too. :)
I think I'm learning more and more how to be gentle because God is introducing more and more "gentle of spirit" women into my life. It is easier to behave when people around me are so nice. The bad news is that I don't have a "quiet" spirit....yet. The good news is, God knows my heart and He's not finished with me! (1 Samuel 16:7) :)
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