This month we moved into a new home. She’s beautiful. She’s everything we’ve ever wanted and more. We believe she’s a physical manifestation of God’s love and compassion, and because we let Love flood our life He has satisfied our desires with good things (Psalm 103:4,5).
Except, since she wasn’t built yesterday, she has age spots, imperfections. She’s majestic, yet shows signs of decay, and in true Charity fashion, I’ve began to pay attention to her flaws. I see her dated cabinets, and despised her for them. I’ve snarled at the time it takes for her to pump hot water to my precious hands. The list grows every single day as I find new inadequacies.
One of my biggest irritations is the overgrown garden in the backyard. At one time, the previous owners had her blooming full and beautiful. I can see evidence of her former glory, but now her brick paths are covered in thick weeds. Plants have died and still their broken skeletons remain. Once manicured rose bushes now spire out of control. Every morning while I sit out on my new deck to enjoy my coveted quiet, I glare at the garden’s offensiveness.
What are we going to do with this? We don’t know how to garden, and I have no desire to get out there and pull those nasty weeds. Bleh. I wish we didn’t have to deal with this.
Then, during one of my quiet mornings, I felt a poke at my heart. Nothing painful, but enough to get my attention. I was reminded of what I’ve learned about gratitude, and how it’s the key to an abundant life. What Wallace Wattles said flooded my mind,
“Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude. Having received one gift from God, they cut the wires which connect them with Him by failing to make acknowledgement”.
I stopped and gave thanks for my imperfect home and overgrown garden.
In that moment, she no longer was an eye sore, but a reminder of the condition my heart. Just like the weeds have overtaken my garden, weeds have overtaken my heart. My heart is not a cesspool of evil, but rather a garden unattended. When I gave my heart to Jesus, I enclosed my heart for my creator, and for him alone. My creator doesn’t despise my decay, but rather delights in its beauty. He doesn’t see my present state, but sees my potential, blooming full and beautiful, and longs to spend time pulling the weeds, pruning the out of control spires of fear.
His whisper is a summer breeze,
“All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you”.
Now, I stand in my garden, and slowly her present disaster fades, and ever so slightly I see how beautiful she really is. I’m grateful for my garden, she’s reminded me to stay connected to my source with gratefulness, and as I practice gratitude, she’s shown me my heart, a garden enclosed.
How about you? Do you have things around you that you find offensive and despise? Have you cut yourself off from the source because you’ve failed to make acknowledgement?
Let’s join together and #practicegratitude for the gifts we’ve been given.
I’ve always said that my garden is like my life – messy, overgrown, and full of weeds, but it still looks beautiful if you look at it from the right angle 🙂
Yes! A perfect way to look at it! 🙂
So thankful that God doesn’t grow too tired to “pick those weeds” from my heart time after time.
For sure!! The crazy thing, he actually enjoys it! 🙂
Don’t forget that your garden is a safe grazing haven for those beautiful deer that come to dine in the evening. 🙂
Matt calls me Snow White, because we also have a regular ground hog, who I’ve named Phenieas, and a little chipmunk. It’s so cute, because we keep seeing them all over and over!! 🙂
A garden, no matter the type, can only be as beautiful as we view it. Just as in life, everything is about perspective and I’m glad you have decided to look gratefully at your garden.
I hold to remember these things as we move forward with changes, too. Though I know I want to get cracking on some design projects once we move, I also know that I’m impatient, so a good balance of perspective will be important for me to keep! 🙂
Perspective is so important with anything, and most of the time for me that’s all I need to change when I think something’s wrong in life. 🙂
Enjoy your move! I hope you blog about your move, so I can see how you decorate and maybe I can get some inspiration!
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