My Garden in the Sky

The other day my two year old came up to me and told me he had a garden in the sky. I had been busy cleaning up a mess in the kitchen, and was overthinking a situation that made me feel uncomfortable and choked out. I wasn't paying much attention to what he had been talking about before this moment, but this particular statement really got my attention. I tried to pry him to tell me more about it, but he quickly changed the subject and continued to play. Could he have seen a glimpse of heaven? Or, maybe he was remembering something from before he was born. Either way, it got me thinking.

I've never been much of a gardener. In fact, if you looked at my yard you'd see my low-maintenance plant beds that don't do much to enhance our home's curb appeal. I do, however, really enjoy spending time in God's creation. Any time I do have a chance to get my hands in the dirt, God teaches me something incredible. There are so many lessons to be learned through gardening. Even Christ used gardening in parables to describe the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, what does it mean to have a garden in the sky? I immediately think of the scripture in Matthew 6 that talks about storing up treasures in Heaven rather than on earth. That combined with Galatians 5:22,23 gives me this beautiful picture of what kind of garden I would be planting in the sky. I would be planting love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

The things I plant in my garden reflect what kind of person I am. Am I a person that cultivates love, or do I allow weeds to come and choke out my patience? What do I nurture? What do I tend to? I want to be a person that plants thankfulness and reaps joy. I want to be mom that plants patience and reaps peace. I want to be a friend that plants kindness and reaps faithfulness. I want to be a daughter that plants self-control and reaps love.

My mom and I were running errands yesterday, and I was pouring out my emotions on something that has been weighing heavily on my heart. (Remember that situation that I was thinking about in the Kitchen? Yeah, that.) I honestly had thought that I worked through most of my feelings and frustrations, but the truth was the roots on this unwanted weed were buried deep. It was stealing my love, joy, peace, and patience. I wasn't reaping a thankful crop. I was reaping uncertainty, annoyance, and selfishness. I was feeling choked out...but, I was also reaping the things that I had planted.

I hadn't mentioned anything to my mom about my son's garden in the sky when we were talking, so the next thing she said really caught my attention. She said, "bloom where you are planted." I know it's kind of a cliché phrase that gets tossed around by people who are usually really unhappy with their circumstances, but this time it held more meaning. She told me a story about her own struggles with feeling oppressed while chasing her passions. She got to a place where she accepted where she was and adamantly decided that wherever she was she would plant a garden. "God, if you put me in a closet, I'm going to turn it into a garden."

So now I have this challenge to make everywhere I am and everywhere I go fruitful--fruitful in love, abundant in peace, and with the fragrance of goodness. I want my garden in the sky to reflect the person I am on earth when I'm living by the fruit of the Spirit.

"Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop..." 2 Corinthians 9:6 MSG