Landscaping Our Hearts

Since carving orders have been very slow, I have turned to another gift God gave me which is landscaping. I like getting to improve people’s yards and each one offers a new challenge. One I just finished is a large beautiful home on the shores of the Pend Orielle River. They wanted some shrubs and flowers put along two sides of the house. You know the saying about building your house on a strong foundation- they did just that. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. I made up a diagram for the owners to see so they could understand what I envisioned. Once they agreed I started digging holes where the shrubs would be placed and dug up shovels of rocks. I than placed about fourteen inches of topsoil over the area marking the holes so I would know where to plant. In about two days the house was lined by many new shrubs that will give them a colorful border to their beautiful home. I placed ground cloth over the new landscape and brought in six yards of fine bark to finish off the new project. When I was done I stepped back to survey the finished project and was very happy that the home looked much more inviting than before. So I left for the weekend hoping the owners would be pleasantly surprised when they came home.

The surprise was on me when the lady called and said the bark was not to her liking. She insisted I remove it and replace it with bigger bark. I explained the reason for using fine bark was because she did not want any border on the beds and bigger bark would not stay in place. That did not do much to convince her and she said they would talk it over. What a way to start a relaxing weekend! On Saturday I attended an Iron Sharpens Iron event and realized I needed to turn the dilemma over to God. I thought that God could handle the situation better than I could You know what; he took control of it and they accepted the fact that small bark would be okay.

That got me thinking about how God wants to come in and landscape our hearts and minds and we often resist. He wants to tear up all the rocks and weeds we grow in our life and make us new and beautiful. Why do we resist so much? We think our life is in control so please God go work in someone else; they really need changed.

Jesus is always ready to step in and make us new. It just takes an invite. Don’t wait, eternity is too important. I find when I let God take over life works better. Let God come in and dig up all the dirt and plant something beautiful in your life.