Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Preparing for Harvest -- time of Advent

This is advent, a time of waiting, a time of preparing.  It’s been over 2000 years since the birth of our savior yet we still set aside time to contemplate the coming of holiness born into our world—no longer something other, but a baby that demanded touch and care.

I am in awe of the invitation to ‘handle God in the body of a child.’ I am in awe of the invitation to eat with the child grown into the man. I am in awe at the patience of God. Year after year He re-invites us to all the humanness of Jesus, our savior.

Christmas is a yearly reminder of the greatest gift of all, of the unexpected ways of God, and the hope of just as unlikely a rescue in our own circumstances. Christmas is the beginning of the story of God’s love lived within humanity. 

I’m praying you have moments of overwhelming wonder at so great a love.

How does this relate to Garden Revelations?

I began thinking about winter as a time of waiting—a time of preparing the earth for the coming seed-sowing and harvest. The parallels seemed so right, but gardening seems of such small importance next to the birth of Jesus. 

Join me as we follow the thought through. 

In winter we prepare our soil and we wait. 
Winter garden -- waiting
            We prepare our hearts to re-receive the gift of Jesus.
           
In the winter we plan for the seeds and plants for our garden
            We wait and hope for the seeds of understanding from the Holy Spirit.

Same garden--Summer arrival --squash, corn & tomatoes
In the winter we dream of the harvest, forgetting time and energy limitations.

We dream of perfection, forgetting the tough love needed in the weeding process.
           
But as we prepare, we know so much depends on the weather. God alone controls the weather. Will adequate rain come? Will late freezes destroy? Will winds and hail wreak havoc? Will life circumstances allow us the time to care for what we plant? Only God knows the answers.
            In the joy and hope and love we anticipate the garden to come, accepting the peace and security that we and everything we attempt is in God’s hands.







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