May 9

The Divine Gardener

            O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

Psalm 104:24-30

 Psalm 104 begins with the author listing a few of the amazing pieces of nature that God uses to provide for His creation: He grows grass for the animals to eat; He provides bread and wine and oil for the benefit of mankind;  He waters the trees so they can grow and provide for other creatures; He makes springs gush and rivers flow so that creation can thrive.  As the Psalmist sees it, God did not just set up a complex eco-system that worked in perfect harmony and then step away.  God is at work every single day, providing everything that creation needs in order to live and live well.  Like a Divine Gardener, He daily attends to the needs of his creation.  He waters the ground and gives food to the soil.  He picks weeds and prunes his plants to ensure that they grow to be the healthiest version of themselves.

The author sees that when God provides for His creation, there is gladness and plenty.  When God turns His face away, there is lack and loss.  When He sends His spirit, there is life.  When He pulls it back, there is death.  If the gardener leaves, the garden will die as it is overrun by weeds and the elements.  The world was not just created by God; it is sustained by God.  We were not just created by God; we are sustained by Him as well.  It is God that gives us the strength to get up in the morning, the remarkable ability to be kind to people who are not, the hope for our children, and the drive to pray.  We do not accomplish these things by our own skill or willpower, it is God’s spirit within us that allows us to draw breath and move forward in this life.

Want more from your life?  The key is not trying harder or getting the right spouse, job or degree.  The key is leaning deeper into the Master Gardener.  Receive what He has to give you.  Let go of what He is pruning away.  Take risks and grow in the areas that He has planted you and trust that what He has called you into, He will equip you for.

Special Needs Parenting can feel like we are fighting against the entire world.  My son spent an entire summer indoors one year because he decided that he was afraid of mosquitoes. He was antsy and fidgety and needed to run through the fresh air, but would not leave the house.  And then if a mosquito happened to get in the house there was screaming and hiding and swinging broom handles at the air to try to keep it away.  There was no talking him out of it or showing that clapping mosquitoes gets rid of them quickly and he did not like the feel or smell of bug spray.  His head was on a swivel and his eyes were always darting, wondering if he had just heard a buzzing sound.  That was a long, long season.  When it feels that it is us versus all of creation, remember that the Lord of Creation formed you, sustains you, empowers you and walks alongside you throughout this journey that you are on. 

A moment to reflect:

Where do you need God to sustain you even more these days?