While away on vacation, I had the opportunity to work in my mother-in-law’s beautiful rose garden. I pulled the weeds, clipped off the old roses that had dropped their pedals, and trimmed away dead branches. In a matter of a week, I could see new buds starting to form. What a beautiful sight and fragrance to behold.
Recently I was going through a study on Spring – Landscaping Designs by
Sara and with the activity with the roses and the recent summer
retreat I figured God must really be telling me a few things in a
hand-on/mind-on/spirit-on way.
The first thing that was revealed to me as King Solomon said, “Arise my
love, my fair one, and come away with me.” The second thing is that we are to be a mirror image of our Father. Our Father is a creator. He is an artist. According to a quote from Oswald Chambers in the Spring lesson, “An artist is one who not only sees but is prepared to pay the price for change,a willingness to accept new ideas, and to take in the refresh ness of expanding creativity. An artistic person is one who has not enough art in him to make him work at changing… He indulges in what he knows rather than what he can learn.
Just like the roses having to undergo a cutting away to produce, we must
have all the old cut away from ourselves to be a loving instrument for God to use. We must be changed. Like a garden we must be pruned and fertilized. We must keep adding on to make our personal gardens as beautiful as possible. Just as there is a process to
planting a garden there is a process of growing our personal garden in
Christ. As one lady at our retreat said, we first have to have faith and then we add to it virtue. To that we add knowledge and then we add
self-control. To self-control we add perseverance and then we add
godliness, and finally we add love.
From the Spring lesson I learned that the landscaper but Lilies which have bells and “they make a melody of love songs. While the for-get-me-nots say for-get-Me not and all My benefits I have for you.”
May we at the Daily Lily continue to make a melody of love songs, be
artistic, and keep adding on to our personal gardens.
Like the rose garden may we be a beautiful sight and fragrance to behold.
thedailylily.com 
Rena, this looks like you’re practicing your Dance Step #1 from Retreat ’06. I remember well ‘Be Still and Know that I am God’ that Needles helped Sara illustrate from her lesson. We were told to be still so we could ‘behold God’s garden all over the earth’ in order to allow the cultivation of our minds to occur. It looks like from what you wrote that this beholding connects to becoming the mirror image of God.
What a helpful illustration about your rose garden experience.
Rena, Your article reminds me of the Scripture,”..the axe is laid to the ROOT of the tree.” Seems Like the Lord is using Sara and some other anointed leaders in the BODY OF CHRIST as “Hatchet Men” using the WORD to bring His bride into a place where SHE (i.e.we) can go into the King’s Palace without spot or wrinkle or undergrowth or weeds. Pruning is brutal, sometimes, (but is doesn’t have to be if we would just do as Sara’s book advises…” face it; admit it; change it.” And that results in the peaceable fruits of righteousness…peaceable fruit; peaceable blossoms; peaceable Kingdom.
While reading the scripture this morning in the Message Bible I came across Psalms 32. It said: “The pressure never let up: all the juices of my life dried up. Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone – my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.”
Of course if we don’t change it, we will have to start all over again.
Psa 103:2 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”
Phyllis at the retreat, was quoting II Peter 1-and the many treasures she found when swewent on a treasure hunt. The ‘treasure hunt’ was one of the most exciting activities of the retreat for me as we are reminded of how to gain and maintain our benefits.
Also as we “Behold” (another acitivity from The Dance of Healing)…God’s garden and share our gifts with others we will enjoy His many benefits.
I like you enjoy the workbooks, retreats and the learning and sharing. Hope we can share the joy, learning and sharing of our retreats and see many others join us in this as we continue to reach out and be a part of what God is doing with our hearts wide open to give and receive LOVE!
Oh, and, but, DON’T FORGET….we start with diligence and add to:
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
Rena I’ve been studying in the Landscape Designs 4 seasons (of the soul)by Sara and I’ve been studying winter…and it tells that there is a garden in this season and its called gethsemene and in there you find out what needs to be strenghtened and what will last and be a strong enough seed to bear good fruit…Just like the Dance of Healing taught us….about the good soil of the soul and cultivating it…this lesson says we have to be crushed in certain areas (at least that is what I understood) so that only the best can come forth and in the Dance of Healing that is what the whole lesson was…to be only the best Dancer you could be….diligence…and perserverance …..and love…dj