God Speaking

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

Both my mother and father were avid gardeners and I inherited their passion for all growing things. I was born in Australia in the moderate zone where plants grew easily in the warm climate with plenty of sunshine and the only necessity being lots of watering. I can remember awakening to the sound of my mother watering the plants outside our bedroom window so they were soaked long before the sun reached its hottest times and the reverse at night, when the sun dipped down, my father would start the sprinklers for the lawn and the swish, swish of the water going back and forth, was a mesmerising pleasant background noise to whatever we were all doing. When we were married my husband and I left Australia and began our wanderings around the world and I was exposed, not only to different cultures, but to vastly different climates and I began to see great differences in what grew in these different countries. Where we lived ranged from the heart of London (England) to Nauru, a tropical Pacific island, to eventually Canada where we now live. My most difficult challenge to grow trees and plants came when we bought a cabin on a lake in British Columbia. The cabin was 1400m above sea level and during the winter the ground was covered in snow for several months. I was thinking back on all the gardens I had experienced while standing on my balcony (my gardening prowess now limited to what will grow in a pot) while I looked at one of my Azaleas which was determined to be the showiest bush ever, as every inch of it was covered with deep pink flowers. It didn’t seem to mind that it was confined to a pot. It didn’t seem to mind not being able to spread its branches into some big garden. It didn’t seem to mind that its glory was only seen by my family. It was blooming to the best of its ability. It reminded me of how we are considered “ a planting of the Lord”

“…They will be called oaks of righteousness , a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.” (Isaiah 61:3)

and as I thought of my Azalea, I could see a comparison with how we live where the Lord has planted us. Some of us may be like lush tropical flowers always needing constant watering. Some of us, like my sturdy trees near the lake, are battling harsh winters to survive. Some of us may be like my plants in pots on my balcony perhaps confined to a small place. The astounding truth came to me that when we are a planting of the Lord we are just where the Heavenly Gardener would have us to be. We may want to cry out to the Lord, “Look at all the obstacles in my life that will stop me from growing” but when we accept that we are “the planting of the Lord” our cry changes to, “Show me how to bring glory to your Name wherever I may be.”

I love the verse from 2 Peter 3:18 where Peter is urging his readers to grow in grace. It does not matter in what circumstances we find ourselves, being God’s gracious people to all those around us brings glory to his name. We might be asked to do this in our family setting; in our workplace; in our school; in our neighbourhood; wherever we have been planted.

Peter also urges us to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. When we strive to do this we long to be more like him in our every day to day, and we will begin to blossom and bring joy to all those who the Lord has placed in our lives and we will rejoice to be called, “a planting of the Lord.”

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way ; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,” (Colossians 1:10)

Related articles

• The Lord’s Planting (agoldentreasury.com)