A time to plant

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The weeds have been pulled. The overgrowth has been pruned back or away and now what is left is a patch of prepared soil, ready for a transformation; for things to be planted in it and to flourish.

I’ve addressed the known sin in my heart and I’ve purged from my life those attitudes and distractions that are adding nothing to the landscape of my life and now my heart waits as prepared soil for what God is going to plant in it.

I think God plants two things in our lives; truth and opportunities.

God takes His truth, most often revealed through His word, by reading or the hearing it in word or song and plants these simple but eternal truths that transform our lives, deep into the soil of our hearts. These are truths such as “Jesus loves me”, “I am always in the presence of God”, “God is faithful”, and “God is in control”; seemingly simple phrases that make a world of difference in how we live.

One day at church I heard Renee Bondi and her remarkable testimony. Although she’d been paralyzed in her early 20’s and it seemed all her dreams had come to an end, she was now traveling the country sharing God’s power in word and song. That morning she sang the song “God is in control”. The song was new to me and I played it often letting that truth settle into my heart. God IS in control. It began as a seedling but as circumstances transpired and I found that truth grew larger in my heart as many other things were suddenly out of my control and if God was not in control we were all in trouble… but God was still in control. That truth rehearsed over and over has grown into, I pray, a solid perennial in my life.

God presents us with opportunities. Some are big and some small: perhaps it’s just to say a kind word, or to face a challenge, to be involved in something, or to even step out of a comfort zone on His behalf. This is not to say that every opportunity that comes our way should be pounced on by any means, but there are those that God plants in our lives in order that they may flourish into something greater. I think of the Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, who taught at a church in Boston in the 1850's . He faithfully taught a Sunday school class and one day lead a young man to the Lord and his name was Dwight L. Moody. We know Moody’s legacy, how his love for God started a school that has ministers of the gospel around the world. But it was because one man taught Sunday School that thousands will be in heaven…

What truths is God planting in your heart that as it matures and take root in your life will raise bouquets of praise to Him?

What small seedling of an opportunity may be of His hand that will ultimately be for His glory?

What is God planting in your heart, this very day? Will it find a ready place to grow and flourish in the soil of your soul?


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