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February 7, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Winter Gardening, by Lisa Mikitarian
A temperate day in the middle of winter beckoned. I ventured outside
with only a light sweater -- no gardening gloves. The sky was clear
above me as I moved along our deck to the flower pots that just a few
months ago had held vivid, flowering geraniums, and begonias, and
petunias. Now only the skeletons stood, the remnants -- brown and
brittle.
I pulled one dead geranium from a terra cotta pot and then another. I
ended up clearing all the pots -- not really having intended to, but I
liked the results and so moved to the planter boxes surrounding the
back deck. Then I went to the shed and picked the hoe and the pruners
off the wall and on my way back to the beds, trimmed back the indigo
and oregano in the miniature herb garden. By the time I was done with
all the pots, beds, and boxes, my hamstrings were tight and my
fingernails were dirty, but what a sense of satisfaction.
The tilled dirt looked dark and rich and ready for spring planting.
Some years this chore doesn't get done until the moment I'm ready to
replant in April. When this happens, there's no period of time that
could be called, "ready and waiting." What a shame because there is
something beautiful in "ready and waiting." There's something beautiful
about clearing out the clutter -- the ugly stuff, the stuff that isn't
serving a purpose -- and being left with what is clean and ready and
waiting. We may have less, but here's a great example of when "less is
more."
While I was admiring my debris-free planter boxes, the evergreens
suddenly became noticeable. These plants, while not "showy" in the
petunia sense, maintain their color in spite of seasonal changes around
them. "I want to be an evergreen," I thought, looking at my dwarf fir,
"steady and lovely no matter the circumstances swirling around me."
And what is of ultimate lasting value?
I also noticed how just one evergreen, whether a boxwood or a juniper
or a fir, kept an entire planter box from looking barren. This was
God's reminder that it doesn't take much for life to be pleasing and
winsome, even joyful. It just takes something of lasting value to be
our focus.
And what is of ultimate lasting value? The Ever-Loving, Ever-Gracious,
Ever-Faithful Savior planted in a ready and waiting heart -- more than
evergreen, He is Everlasting.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting
God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired
or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom (Isaiah 40:30
TNIV).
Winter gardening has its perks.
---------
(c) 2009 Lisa Mikitarian <miks@shentel.net>
RELATED LINKS:
* Everlasting God!
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=19980607
* Weed, Water, and Share
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200508/20050824_weed.html
* The Master Gardener
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200505/20050505_gardener.html
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200902/20090207_wintergardening.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
WHEN GODLY PEOPLE DO UNGODLY THINGS, by Beth Moore
Confronts the hard questions of faith and faithfulness, and offers
warnings to Christians to safeguard themselves and others against
Satan's attacks.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?251
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
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