Lessons from a terrible gardener

The combination of a hot summer, a wet winter, 5 kids on bikes and 5 foraging hens admittedly left our lawn in a sorry state this spring.

Now, I need to stop right here and confess, neither me or my husband have green fingers and our garden has always been a mess. Filled with half built kids creations, wooden structures, shadows of past experiments and the like… containing an array of cutlery, pots and glasses the kids assured me they’d bring inside. You name it and you will most likely find it in my garden; odd socks, ornaments, scissors, chalks, I could go on!

In short, It wasn’t just a hot summer that screamed, ‘take action!’, but we did used to have grass…

The mud had become so compacted under the weight of foot and bike tyres, the grass so sparse and patchy and the ground so uneven, nothing could grow there. It doesn’t help that on either side of us the neighbours have the most luscious green lawns… sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side!

We were left with a choice, to try and repair what was left, OR, to begin again.

After much consideration we opted for the second. Armed with a rotivator, staunch determination and a vision of lush green grass, we did it.

We began…

Being inexperienced gardeners (and that’s a compliment!) we had no idea what we were about to get ourselves In to!

You see, it’s not until you begin to dig beneath the surface, that you can know what’s really there.

The rotivator began to make light work of the hard ground. Churning it over effortlessly, it was deeply satisfying to watch as the soil passed through the blades, we were about to discover that it was full of surprises…

Old plant labels, plastic sweet wrappers, old pottery, marbles, metal trinkets but I was about to meet my arch nemesis… stones!

Big ones, small ones, white ones, black ones, loose ones, stuck ones, you name it, it began to become clear our soil was brimming with them and I needed to remove them.

Every. Single. One.

Could this be the reason our grass has struggled to grow?

Oh, and you can just begin to imagine my delight, when Ryan proudly announced he had bought me a garden sieve to help… thanks, I think?!

In the truest sense my lawn looks worse than ever… and the mud is getting EVERYWHERE!

This was certainly not what I was imagining when I envisioned my beautiful new lawn.

Also, why isn’t it done already?!

Yesterday, walking alone to a sweet cafe in town to do some work, I was reflecting on our garden saga so far, but I wasn’t alone, Jesus began to speak to me…

You see the bible often compares our heart to a garden, to soil. In order for God’s word to flourish in our hearts, we must get rid of all the weeds, the stones, the rubbish!

I began to pray… ‘Jesus break any hardness in my heart, search me, I give you permission to go beyond the surface. Jesus please remove the stones in my heart.’

What are these stones I pondered? These stones that have laid unseen, part of the ‘garden’ of my heart for so long.

Holy Spirit immediately cast my mind to the account of the woman caught in adultery. You can read it in John 8.

“Then in the middle of his teaching, the religious scholars and the Pharisees broke through the crowd and brought a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery and made her stand in the middle of everyone. Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery.”

“Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?”

It became so clear, the rocks represent judgement and condemnation.

The voices, the voices that accuse me. The voices that remind me of who I’ve been and what I’ve done. Those voices that dictate to me that I am not enough. Those that whisper lies and play my failures on repeat.

But what would Jesus say to do with a woman like this?

What would he do with a woman like me?

Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.”

Upon hearing that, her accusers slowly left the crowd one at a time, beginning with the oldest to the youngest, with a convicted conscience.

Until finally, Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there in front of him.

So he stood back up and said to her, “Dear woman, where are your accusers? Is there no one here to condemn you?”

Looking around, she replied, “I see no one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Then I certainly don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on, be free from a life of sin.”

This is profound, life-altering, garden transforming…

You need to understand, here stood the one without sin!

The one who technically could throw the stone, and yet he chooses not to.

He doesn’t condemn this woman, he doesn’t join in the name calling, the stone throwing, NO! Rather he turns her free, to live a new life.

In an instant he silences every voice of condemnation and removes every single stone of judgement from her life!

Have you allowed the condemning voices of others, their judgements about what you do or don’t do, say or didn’t say, believed or didn’t believe, fill your heart, making it hard and unproductive?

Are you accusing yourself? Do you judge yourself too harshly? Do you partner with those voices? Do you punish yourself?

Or do you allow those rocks of judgement to fall upon the one who freely received them on our behalf?

On the cross Jesus bore every stone of judgement that we deserved. He felt their full force, he absorbed their impact completely, so we too, like ‘this’ woman can begin again.

If he can do it for a woman like her, can he not do it for a woman like you?

Today take a moment to trust the garden of your heart to Jesus again. Surrender any hardness in your heart, give him permission to reveal any rock hiding there and begin the process of transformation.

As always i’d Love to hear your comments,

Blessings Friends,

Rachel x