tend your own plot

When I worked in the Hamptons there were several 6-plus acre estates we attended to. My crew had four people, so it took hours each week to care for the grounds. We would each take a portion of the property each week...it became "ours". We knew what had to get done. We knew the large specimen trees and the dwarf English Boxwoods.

Rule #1
Keep your eyes on your plot. Sometimes it gets lonely pulling weeds by yourself. Don't get sidetracked and wander off.

Rule#2
If you make a mistake, take the blame. If you come across a plant that is sick or dying, tell the foreman.

Rule #3
At the end of the day, there will be more to do tomorrow

The key to tending our gardens and our lives is to take responsibility for what grows. Yes, Jesus told us the parable of the weeds growing in the field at night...while we were sleeping. But we need to look at our spiritual lives like we do our possessions; if the paint on our house is peeling, we paint it. If our check engine light goes on in our car we take it to a mechanic. If we a window breaks in our home, we replace it. If we are overweight, we go to the gym and watch what we eat?

Why does it seem like so few people do the same with their spiritual health and relationship with Christ?

Rule #1
Keep your eyes on your plot...that is yourself. Too many Christians get caught up in finding fault in so many others. Remember the words of Jesus to Peter..."what is that to you? You follow me! (John 21:22). The interior life may seem boring at times, but it is the plot God calls us to, it is the one he gave us to tend. Work on your own life with respect and awe of God (Philippians 2:12)

Rule #2
Look into all the corners of your life. There is a classic devotional book "My Heart, Christ's Home" that asks you to pray through aspects of your life as if they were rooms in a house. Look under the bed, in the closet, under the pile of close. Don't bury the things you know God doesn't like. Show them to him and ask for forgiveness. A sick plant left alone with die. A sick soul will face the same fate. God will heal you, honest. (1 John 2:1-2)

Rule #3
It ain't over 'till the proverbial "lady sings". This process will continue until the Lord comes back with all His angles and claims His own. We loaded up into the truck at the end of the day knowing full well that there would be weeds and sick plants the next time we returned. Same with our lives. So what keeps us coming back, doing the work?
Once the work is done, the place is never the same...and the day will come when we will live in a Garden where there are no weeds (Genesis 1:18, Revelation 21)
We look with full assurance that the Hope we have is a person, not a verb.
Blessed Weeding
Bryan