A thought occurred to me tonight. There are a few places in the Bible where God is referred to as a gardener of sorts. I’m going to expand on this analogy a bit. Indulge me if you would.
Whenever I’ve seen someone plant tomatoes, they put a stake in the ground next to them so that as the plant grows, it can be tied to the stake for support. In our lives, Jesus is that stake. He’s the perfectly straight marker that one day God will use as a standard when judging this world. As we grow in our spirits and strive to be more like Jesus, we’re essentially tying ourselves to him for support, to help us to be straighter. Sometimes in life, when we go through a rough patch, it’s just God tending to his plants, putting another string around us to pull us upright. Just as with tomato plants, this upward growth is unnatural for us. We find it uncomfortable and limiting. But, like everything a gardener does, it’s for a purpose.
As my mind processed all this, I realized that every rough patch in my marriage could be traced back to a point where one or both of us were fighting against this upward growth. Where we wanted to grow at a more comfortable angle, where we want to cooperate with gravity and just take it easy rather than striving to go straight up. But, just like a tomato plant, doing so will eventually lead to tipping over completely. Thankfully, every time we’ve reached this point, we’ve turned back and asked the master gardener for help. And every time he’s picked us back up and started working to straighten us out again.
Thank you Lord for always being willing to help straighten us out.
