HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

 Greetings and Salutations O Ye Growers of Things.

How does your GARDEN grow?

"Mistress Mary..quite contrary...How does your GARDEN grow? With silver bells...and cockleshells and so my garden grows." (Anonymous with earliest writings from Tom Thumbs Pretty Songbook 1744)

The kiddie nursery rhyme had many interpretations from political to sexual...but for our purposes...we will focus on the burning question of the moment...HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?  How are the plantings in your life...and how is your harvest?  Are there things in your GARDEN OF LIFE choking and hindering the production of your crops...whether it be flowers, wheat, corn, tomatoes, squash, okra or your SPIRITUAL GARDEN...with maturity, fruit of the spirit, spiritual growth, relationships, family issues, etc.?

This thing of beginnings...the genesis of LIFE...all started out of a Creator's vision for His creation...when He placed a man/woman...male/female...
Adam/Eve in the GARDEN OF EDEN.  Along with this wonderful GARDEN that God placed them in... He gave authority, rule, dominion over the creatures and plants/trees of planet earth.

"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our Image according to our likeness; and let THEM (male/female) RULE over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing thaT creeps on the earth (including the CREEP of creeps...the devil/satan/serpent).  And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Be FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY and FILL the earth and SUBDUE it; and RULE over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.  Then God said, Behold, I have GIVEN you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing on the earth which has life,  I have given every greeN plant for food; and it was so.  And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day." (Genesis 1:26-31)

After giving them this DOMINION...God the Creator PLANTED A GARDEN...and then place His created being in this GARDEN.  "And the Lord God planted a GARDEN toward the east, in EDEN, and there He placed the man whom He had formed."  After God place man in the planted place...He created a suitable helper...to help in this GARDEN...enter Eve...the mother of living. (Genesis 2:18-25)

The Book of Beginnings...the lays out the genesis of mankind's troubles...that emanated from the GARDEN down throughout the ages...into the GARDENS OF OUR LIVES...to the current position on the time-space continuum...of NOW...2012.  For full detains of this fall in the GARDEN read Genesis 3:1-24...and see how DISOBEDIENCE opened the door to curse, toil, sweat, thorns, thistle and DEATH (physical and spiritual separation from the Creator).

"Then to Adam He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying, You shall not eat from it; cursed is the GROUND because of you...in TOIL you shall eat of it all the days of your life.  Both THORNS and THISTLES it shall grow for you...and you shall EAT the plants of the field, by the SWEAT OF YOUR FACE/BROW you shall eat bread till you return to the GROUND...because from it you were taken...for you are dust and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)

Of course...the story of REDEMPTION is ROOTED in the RESTORATION and REPRISTINATION of the GARDEN EXPERIENCE...by the OBEDIENCE of one man (Jesus).  "Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin...so death passed to all men...for all have sinned." (Romans 5:12)  "For as though the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the OBEDIENCE THE ONE the many were made righteous." (Romans 5:19)

"For the LOVE of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that ONE died for all...there for ALL died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (II Corinthians 5:14-15)
                                                                                                   

Well in our SPIRITUAL GARDENS sometimes we have wonderful fruitful lives...and sometimes we tend to have GARDENS filled with thistles, thorns, and don't bear the fruit that we were created to bear.  Instead of beautiful flowers we grow WEEDS.  Even though there is restoration by the blood of Jesus in our lives...we still have to contend with a CURSED and FALLEN world..still under full effect of the CURSE...but the POWER OF THIS CURSE...no longer dominates us. It is like the Lord giving the children of Israel...THE PROMISED LAND...but they still had to cross over the river...and fight the enemies who would oppose their legal rights to the land.  So it is us...in the GARDENS OF OUR LIVES...although Jesus became a curse in our place as He hung on a TREE (Galatians 3:13-14)...that was lost in the GARDEN by disobedience at the point of a tree...we must... deal with the thistle and thorns.  If we do nothing...the GARDEN of our lives will be OVERGROWN weeds an choke out the produce in our lives.
"I passed by the FIELD of the sluggard... and by the VINEYARD of the man lacking sense/heart...and behold it was COMPLETELY OVERGROWN...with THISTLES..its surface was COVERED WITH NETTLES/WEEDS...and its STONE WALL was broken down.  When I saw, I reflected upon it...I looked and receive instruction...a little seep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest...then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man." (Pro-Verbs 24:30-34)

In the wonderful parable of the Soil, Seed, Sower (Read Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15) we see SOIL CONDITIONS...affects CROP PRODUCTION.  Beside the road, rocky ground, thorns all hindered growth in the field/garden.  These are equated with NO FIRM ROOT...with the thorns of affliction, persecution, worries of the world, deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things...entering in and choking the seed/word and becoming unfruitful. (Mark 4:14-19)  The GOOD SOIL...bears fruit of 30, 60, 100 fold production...and is defined as obviously soil that is without the hardness and rocks, thorns...and is defined in Luke 8:15 as "And the seed in the GOOD GROUND/SOIL/HEART, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance and endurance." (Luke 8:15)

We seen in Psalm 37 how to deal with evildoers and wrongdoers...who appear to have a better GARDEN or life than ours.  The first thing that the Psalmist tells us is to fret not and not be envious toward evildoers and wrong doers...."for they will WITHER quickly like the grass...and FADE like the green herb." (Psalm 37:1-2)  There are many things which we are to do...(1) Trust in the Lord (2) Do good (3) Dwell in the land (4) CULTIVATE FAITHFULNESS...FEED SECURELY ON HIS FAITHFULNESS. (5) Delight/become pliable yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (6) Commit your way to the Lord (7) Trust also in Him and He will do it. (Psalm 37:3-5)

The idea of CULTIVATION...speaks to me of pulling the weeds, tilling the soil, keeping the birds and critters away, fertilizing...with the cause and effect of production and harvest and supply in our lives.  We do these things by reading the Word, obeying the Word, praying, fellowshipping, witnessing, living the life with blessing and not with curses...as we press in the the CURSE BREAKER...Jesus.  In the late 60's...there was a music festival...called WOODSTOCK...where there was peace, love and rock and roll...and a song written by Joni Mitchell and sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young...as they sang..."we've got to get ourselves...back to the GARDEN."  Well...we can't get ourselves back there...it is only by His GRACE (unmerited favor...divine influence in our hearts manifested in our lives) and MERCY (not guilt and condemnation or getting what we deserve). 

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Lord...God Bless This Garden...as we put our hands to the plow and walk in the dominion and obedience over the things that creep into our lives.  Thank you that as we deal with thorns in our lives...YOUR GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.  (II Corinthians 12:6-10)

CLOSING QUESTION

How does your GARDEN grow?

Love an Back To The Garden Kisses
Rodney "Woodstock Was A Poor Imitation" Boyd