TITLE: Rogue Watermelons By CeCe Lane 08/19/05 |
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Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.
Recently I had a very lazy day, I did pretty much nothing all day. I did walk around outside and take pictures of my plants. I also dreamed a little dream of how I want my yard to look, landscape wise. I can kind of picture it, but I have no idea what flowers and plants I want to use. I think a trip to the library is in order, maybe that would be a good thing to do on a cold, cloudy, rainy day.
I did manage to prune in my garden. I yanked out one of my rogue watermelon plants. We planted a whole row of watermelon. (What were we thinking?) The row did not come up at all. Two seeds were dropped and those came up and took over.
To save some cucumber plants and my tomato plants, I yanked it out last night. It is now safely laying (lying?) in the alley. Now in case you think I'm wasting good watermelon rest assured dear friend, there were no watermelons on it, only blossoms.
For awhile now I've been thinking it needed to go, but it wasn't until I inspected my garden more closely that I realized just how deadly that watermelon plant was. It was choking out the other plants. It came to mind that is what Jesus was talking about in the "Parable of the Sower". A man plants seeds, some of them fall on the path, and those were eaten. Some seeds fell among the rocks, and those were scorched by the sun. Some seeds fell among thorns and it was choked out. Some fell on good soil and those produced a crop.
My dropped watermelon seeds are the seeds that fell among thorns, yet in a sense they are the thorns too. Those seeds took root and grew, they blossomed, but they were choking out good plants. Watermelon is not listed among my favorite fruits, it's not that I don't like it, it's just not one I go out of my way to get. However my two rogue plants were choking the life out of my cucumbers and tomatoes. Those are good crops, the ones I want to grow and see flourish. I want the good "fruit" from those plants.
It did hurt a bit to pull the watermelon plant. Those stems are poky. It also hurt, because now my garden does not look as full as it did previously, I liked my garden looking lush and full. I took great pride in my big garden. Now it's just a regular old small garden.
Has that ever happened to you? You take great pride in something you've accomplished only to have it yanked out?
I've been thinking on the fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control... (Galatians 5:22-23) Those are the good fruit, the fruit I want evidence in my life. Yet I so often see rogue watermelon plants growing wild, choking out the good fruit I want to cultivate.
My watermelon plants choke out love and replace it with pride. They choke out peace and replace it with anger. They choke out joy and replace it with strife. They choke out kindness and replace it with selfishness.
Jesus then must yank out the bad plants, so the good fruit can have the needed nurtrients to grow and produce a good crop.
Talk about pain in that. Remember the pokey stems? That hurts my hands, but have you seen His hands lately?
That rogue watermelon has to go. It might hurt me some to have Him yank it out, but that is only because I tend to be prideful and I don't want Him to see the ugliness of my heart. But when I look at His hands, hands scarred for me, I realize He has the greater pain.
Oh Jesus Thank You!! Please pull my rogue watermelon plants. Please, Master Gardener, tend the soil so the good fruit can grow and flourish.
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