how's your garden?

"...you will be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never run dry."--Isaiah 58:11

This morning I was reading a chapter in Joyce Rupp's book May I Have This Dance, which is a month-by-month guide to deepening our relationship with God. She always challenges me to set aside the view I have of myself and God even, and just be real so that I can grow. Her April chapter is fittingly about resurrection: Jesus' resurrection and my own. She compares the human spirit to a spring garden, whose soil may be packed and hard after a long winter of bitter cold weather. In order for growth to occur, it must be made ready through tilling and turning over the earth which can be back-breaking work.

Rupp writes, "This part of gardening is essential, however, if green shoots are to push their way through the soil. A garden that has a hard, packed surface will not be able to receive the life-giving moisture of the spring rains. The water will run off and fail to soak the soil."

It is so easy to cling to this hardness. Working to soften ourselves so that we can be open to newly planted seeds and the waters that help them grow is painful! When we open ourselves up to these good things, the possibility of greater pain increases.

Rupp further explains, "Nothing prevents personal transformation more than a closed mind or heart. Change cannot take place if we cling to and clutch at what we think is unchangeable. When our security is at stake, we may withdraw or fight instead of listening, instead of thinking, praying, and talking about the challenge that is before us. We defend our positions and our feelings, and find others to help us to defend them instead of letting go, receiving new information, and listening to different perspectives that call for a change in us or others." Sadly, this scenario is all too familiar in my life!

Some things to think through:

--Reflect on your life since last Easter. Where have you been open? Where have you been closed? What do they tell you about your inner life?

--Look at the inner garden of your life. Where do the waters of life flow freely? Where do you see signs of growth, birth, hope, change, nurturing? How is God coaxing life out of you? What is being raised to life in you?

As moms, if we try at all, we can easily see the Lord breathing life into ourselves and our children. He is more than able to fill our souls with joy and refresh us when we need it most.