The Attentive Gardener

Ahhh, it has finally warmed up for good (I hope!!!) and I am enjoying getting outside and tending to the plants and flowers all around my house. I've been weeding and feeding and transplanting and weeding and raking and counting buds and weeding and pulling off dead stuff and searching for new life and weeding some more.
Two nights ago it rained, and yesterday as I walked around the house to look for weeds which needed to be pulled (And sprouting trees. Ugh! Those little helicopters from maple trees get everywhere!) anyway, as I was walking around the house I was so happy to see more growth appearing. The hostas are beginning to show their leaves. The flowers on the mertyl are blooming. Just about all the trees have buds. Even a climbing flowering vine-type-plant which I divided (and thought I might have killed because I cut the roots) is standing up and producing green leaves.
It seriously brought me so much delight to see how everything is growing. Further, the growth - and the anticipation of how beautiful it's all going to be - increased my desire to kneel down and bend over and get my fingers dirty by digging up weeds.
Because I want those plants to be as healthy and beautiful as possible.
I am looking foward to enjoying them all summer long. (Oh, yeah! Did I mention how well my new lilac bush is doing? I think it's going to produce some delicious smelling flowers this year!)

So, what's the point?
This isn't a garden blog...
The point is, as I was admiring my plants -so pleased with their progress - and as I was diligently searching out weeds and dead stuff which could ruin their beauty, I was reminded of two things.
One, Gardening 101 should be a required course for all seminary students. Because there are sooooooo many sermon illustrations waiting to be discovered in caring for plants.
And, two, God is an Attentive Gardener.
As I was tending my plants, God spoke to my heart and convinced me of this: The delight HE finds in watching me grow into the woman HE intends for me to be, and the care HE puts into weeding out sin in my life and pruning away the dead stuff and every other thing HE does to make me grow in beauty - far outweighs what I'm doing in my yard for my plants.
I thought of how intently HE must watch over me, over all of us(!), and I couldn't help but give thanks for His perfect care. For the weeding HE graciously and tirelessly performs in my heart, for the precise removal of dead things which would hamper my growth, for the nourishment HE provides through His Word and the growth HE spurs through His Spirit. Ahhhhh, Lord. Thank You!
The love, the tenderness, the time, the patience, the fullness of His care for us amazes me!

Come to think of it, perhaps Gardening 101 ought to be a required course for every new believer.
Oh, how HE has used it to inspire my faith and trust in Him!