Yard Work...

A few years ago, before our excursion to Tulsa, I had a lawn and garden care customer who lived in the small bohemian town of Sebastopol.  This area originally known for its delicious Gravenstein Apples is located about twenty minutes from the Pacific coast in northern California.  Although most of the orchards are now vineyards, the area still boasts an older small town charm.  Joe and his wife who have since gone to their reward, had lived there for many years and owned what must have originally been a custom built house on one of the rolling hills near the older downtown area.

Joe, now alone, had become rather ill, was confined to his house and had a live-in nurse through whom I actually got the account.  When I first gazed out the bank of windows that faced the large terraced backyard, I was met by a scene of chaotic over-growth, tall weeds and trees that badly needed pruning!  Initially it took me a little over a week to bring some order to the yard.  The more I chopped, trimmed, pulled and mowed, the more I began to see the orderly fashion in which the yard had been laid out!

The back of the house was built on the slope of the hill and the yard started at the edge of the large basement/workshop built under the living room.  It was terraced a step or two from there.  The first step was the formal yard with a lawn, what turned out to be pretty bushes and logically and decoratively placed shade trees.  The second larger level, separated by a picket fence, was actually an orchard with different varieties of apple and other fruit trees, and the third level (if I remember correctly) was open space.

After a few days of cleaning out the orchard area complete with waist high weeds, intertwined vines, prickly thistles and other surprises buried in the overgrowth, I woke up one morning with spots of poison oak all over my arms!  But you know… it was worth a bit of discomfort as I uncovered the original plan with which the yard had been designed.  This to me has always been one of the perks of lawn and garden care.  The reward of looking back at your work and enjoying the very visible signs of your efforts is quite satisfying!

The same can be said for one’s efforts at studying the Word of God.  Psalm 1:3 tells us that the reward of the one who delights in the Word “is like a tree planted by rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in his due season…” (KJV)  I think that it is important to note that the word “planted” actually infers the transplanting of the tree from one location to another.  The Message Bible goes as far as to paraphrase this idea saying: “You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month.” 

In other words, it is a purposeful and dedicated decision that we make to “plant” ourselves in the Word on a daily basis… just as Joe had originally purposed and planned his formal yard and small orchard many years previous to my coming on the scene!  I am sure that Joe along with his wife and kids had spent many hours enjoying the fruit of his planning and hard work.

Once again, the Word tells us that we can also enjoy the fruit of our planning and hard work as we purpose to stay planted near the banks of the streams of the Holy Ghost as discovered in the pages of our Bibles!  Then I can guarantee that you’ll be able to look back with satisfaction at the results of your labors.  The good thing about staying planted near the streams of the Holy Ghost is that you most likely won’t wake up one morning with a rash of poison oak!  That’s not to say that you might not get a few bumps and scratches along the path of life, but then the Word also gives us the remedies for those difficulties as well!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to the Word, and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting today?”