Daily Journal: 24 April

Be Like a Garden,

a Cultivated Garden

When a garden reaches maturity, it must start to receive regular pruning to be kept full and lush, to grow stronger. It needs pruning to begin to blossom prolifically and bear fruit that can be picked and distributed. As a garden becomes cultivated, plants become more resistant to disease and are able to withstand exposure to severe weather conditions.

Cultivated gardens require knowledgeable pruning. Sometimes, a severe pruning can cause a plant to look dead for a while, like it has not survived the pruning. But it’s not dead. Given time, the new growth appears once more and the plant begins to thrive with even more vigour than before.

The cultivated garden finally develops its cycle of regeneration – blossoming, creating life, offering beauty and production, before dropping its seed upon its own soil, dying back only to reproduce and multiply.

No matter how large the cultivated garden grows, however, it is always susceptible to destruction. It never stops needing to be watched over, nurtured and tended.

We are to be like a garden, a cultivated garden. We must be careful to be a part of tending our life according to The Maker’s design.

Psalm 92:12-14 (NLV)

The man who is right and good will grow like the palm tree. He will grow like a tall tree in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will grow well in the home of our God. They will still give fruit when they are old. They will be full of life and strength.

Psalm 41:2 (AMP)

Blessed [by God’s grace and compassion] is he who considers the helpless; The Lord will save him in the day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive; And he will be called blessed in the land; You do not hand him over to the desire of his enemies.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NKJV)

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Philippians 2:3-4 (NCV)

When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honour to others than to yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Psalm 42:8 (AMP)

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song will be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.