Flourishing Garden

“The same free will I used to dig my own grave would be needed to cultivate a living garden.”

- Josh Nadeau, Room for Good Things to Run Wild

Every time I drove the shovel into the dirt, it was my own free will that guided me down underground, searching for something I thought I needed. 

Desperate for control.
Methods to numb the pain. 

Accolades to prove my worth.
Not knowing that loss was gain. 

It wasn’t until I reached the bottom, still searching but never striking gold, that I looked around and found myself digging my own grave. Where I thought I would find life, was exactly where I almost found death. Down in the depths of the barren soil. What I didn’t realize was that my search for life was rooted in pride and selfishness. It was the dying that brought me new perspective. Trying to rid myself of the old, I knew that instead of trying to find something under the ground, I wanted to grow something within. A flourishing garden. Not just for my own desires or for myself, but for something else. For someone else. A garden for the sake of the Kingdom. A garden that glorifies.

But this garden, too, would require the same free will. But the Will would now need to be aligned with that of the True Gardener. His love for all mankind. As I climbed out of the grave, there before me was now a gaping hole. I didn’t want to fill it back up with the pile of sand and rocks that came out of it. I knew it needed new soil, the nutrients for true, everlasting life. The control, coping-mechanisms, addictions and lies needed to be pushed away. Barrow by barrow, I labored to carry away the depleted soil and bring in the new. When I looked around, walking beside me was Jesus. Carrying the heaviest load. Bearing the weight of it all on his shoulders. And then I looked behind me, and there, following along, were my brothers and sisters. Each with shovels, fertilizers and seeds. Together, we would fill the hole, plant the seeds and grow new roots. Pushing up out of the ground, rather than falling deeper underneath, the green stems would sprout and reach up to the Light. Filled with the Good Nutrients of the Word, Watered by the Spirit, strengthened by the storms, those Seeds would grow and flower and produce a Fruit so sweet and rich that it would satisfy not just mine, but every living soul. 

Our Flourishing Garden.