The Secret Garden

When I was a kid I helped my dad work on the yard - mowing the grass, picking stones and tending to the garden. I never understood why he spent so much time making our yard look like a park until I got my own house and started to create my own park! Gardening is fun and I love the satisfaction of re-creating my own bit of Eden, but the other day I realized that my park had a secret garden!

Behind our shed there is a significant plot of dirt. I guess it could be used as a small garden but until now I have used it as a place for storing firewood and other unwanted building materials. Nobody really knows it's there so I don't spend a lot of time tending to that part of our yard. Occasionally I venture into this forgot land and trim back the weeds but for the most part I spend my time on the 'visible' gardens in our yard.

Well last month my secret garden decided that it needed a bigger plot of land and started creeping out from behind the shed into our orchard. We have apple trees on either side of our shed and much to my dismay they were no longer surrounded by black dirt! The weeds had overtaken them, creating their own ugly form of grass. A fews days later I tried trimming the hedge that borders our property but I couldn't get to the section behind the shed because small trees (otherwise known as weeds!) were blocking my way. My garden was getting out of control!

After thinking about how this happened I realized something about myself - I deal with my yard in the exact same way that I deal with my life. I like the benefits of having things together, so I work hard at daily keeping things in order. I mow the lawn (and my bad attitudes), I water the plants (feed my spirit), trim back unwanted growth (battle against the worlds way in pursuit of kingdom thinking) and make sure that I start on things that are most visible to myself and others.

My shed represents all of the things that I know are present but I'm too ashamed to let anyone see. However, God has been reminding my of the verse "Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed." If there is no confession we are left with a problem that will only continue to get bigger and bigger until it is out of control.

So last week after having this revelation I did two things - I shared a 'secret garden' with my wife and asked my heavenly Father to begind restoring me...and then I called my dad and asked him to spray the weeds behind my shed!