I'm Alive In The Garden

If I've got energy I like to be moving and doing something with my hands. This time of year I love making the yard look appealing to birds, lizards, toads, butterflies, bees, bugs and so much more.

Visitors enjoy the walk to the door. I have a friend, Carolyn, who says as soon as she gets out of the car and walks the path, birds and critters are flying and darting about everywhere. I love it!

I just believe that God made me to move and my favorite place is amongst plants near and in the woods. After all, we were created to spend our days with God in a garden. Just because sin closed the doors to that garden, doesn't mean we can't create our own to enjoy with God.

That's the visual image I keep as rheumatoid arthritis attempts to keep me from moving. It's much too easy to get caught up in our own agenda and forget to say, "Is this the direction you want me to go, Lord?" I have so many ideas that I often forget to ask that question until I hit the proverbial brick wall when it's obvious it's not the right direction.

But even a "closed door" shows God's leading us. That may be the only way He has of telling some of us busy people to stop and reconsider. But in the garden, time stands still and I am all ears to what God has to say to me because all around me is His Creation. His Creative Energy!

When I get weary from garden work, I head for the hammock in the backyard. I can truly relax in a hammock. I like to keep it swinging. I think it reminds me of when my daddy would push me on the swings as a child. I can still hear my voice begging for more. "Push me, Daddy!"

There is something magical about a hammock and since ours was a gift from our friends, The Allreds, it's a very special place to be. In colder weather, I imagine my Heavenly Daddy swinging me in the hammock as He talks to me about His love for me. We are each His "one and only" because none of us are alike. We are truly unique and specially loved for who we are.

If you don't think of yourself as special, you better work on that and get into agreement with the Word of God on who you are!