Consult the Gardener
By Lexi Cole
“I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.”
Psalm 116:1
My mother may not love that I’m sharing this, but my family is not amazing at weeding. However, our home has quite a few flowerbeds and since we don’t stay on top of the gardens, we normally end up having Saturday “family weeding days”!By Lexi Cole
“I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.”
Psalm 116:1
This past summer, I was working on my assigned flowerbed and there were some huge weeds. Some were tall, others flowering, and I had no idea which was a real plant and which was a weed. This dilemma gave me two options: guess and pull what I thought was a weed, or grab my mom and ask her. The second option was best because my mom knew which plant needed to be pulled out and which was suppose to stay.
It made me think about my immediate impulse when I don’t know what to do. When there is conflict, drama, pain, confusion - - whatever “weed” is in my life - - do I guess and pull it out, hoping it was the right thing to do? Or do I stop, pause and consult the One who knows best? More often than not, I immediately go to trying to solve the problem. I pull what I think is the weed, when I should first ask God. As believers, we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us, a Bible that is the primary way God communicates with us, and prayer to communicate with Him. The moment we don’t know what to do should be the moment we pause to listen, read and pray. Instead, I get caught in the immediate “let’s-fix-it,” rather than stopping to consult the Gardener.
In Scripture, King David did a similar thing: When confronted with a problem that arose out of his sin, David handled it his own way, plucked the “weed” himself and made things significantly worse. In comparison, when confronted with a problem - - the potential massacre of her people - - Queen Esther didn’t jump to a solution but fasted and prayed for three days with others in her community. It wasn’t until after she did this that she courageously went to King Xerxes.
In order to choose consulting the gardener over picking what we think is the weed, we need to acknowledge we need God and that we don’t always know which is the weed and which is the plant. My family may still have our “family weeding days,” but I am thankful for the reminder that when I come across a problem, trial, pain or confusion, all I have to do is stop, pause and consult the Gardener….thankfully, He’s always there to help.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What is an area of your life where you should be consulting the Gardener first? Will you?
FURTHER READING:
2 Samuel 11; Esther 1-8
Lexi is an Elementary Education major at Bethel University. The last two summers, she’s been the Children’s Ministries intern at Oakwood.
