I have often asked myself questions in my prayer time as well as other times throughout my day. Questions like; what does fear look like? Most often I am not able to draw or paint the flowering beauty of fear. Yes, I said that, “flowering beauty of fear”. At times my husband walks in the house with a freshly dug flourishing green with blooms, asking, is this a weed or not? I ask around and we all are just not sure. A weed often delays our gardening time much like fear delays our spiritual heart growth time.
When we have friends, mentors, or others that plants seeds of honesty in our lives fear really has no breeding ground. Maybe, I would call honest words, “Roundup”! Yes, spray Roundup! When words are honest they become fewer because self-importance has decreased. Hopefully, Roundup will burn off the impurities of my soul. And, I will come to a greater knowledge of increased faith.
“If possible, spend time in nature today and find ways to reconnect with God. Share your thoughts.” Upper Room Devotional.
My thoughts; my friend, Tammy Holton has sent me in the last few days photos of her husband, Chris’ vegetable garden. Now, I know the kind of gardener he is because I have had over the years perfect vegetables without a flaw from his garden. Therefore, when I see his garden in progress I pause to dream of perfect fresh vegetables. I also know it’s time to work on my heart and its earth pockets.
thedailylily.com 
Oh wow, Sara. Food for thought for sure. Taking a look at my own soul, my ‘spiritual garden’, now I too ask the question…which lovely, multi-praised exalted bloom is a true flower and which one is an allergy-packing, deceitful blossom? It takes discernment and….as you said…honesty to truly discern .
”The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? BUT, I Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of manifested.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 So , I look at each blossom…..the fruit of my doings. I examine the fragrance of each work. Those that have the fragrance of Christ, that sweet, gentle scent I might attribute to the Spirit. The other one when sniffed might make me sneeze. I might attribute that one to fleshly works. I also might be wrong!
Watching Chris drop what may be tomato plants into well prepared soil and secret pockets for each little plant, I am reminded of the parable Jesus told of the Sower and the Soil found in Matthew 13:3-23.
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Chris shows us a photo of sowing in good soil and he will indeed bear good fruit.
Yes, as Chris is sowing according to Christ Jesus Who knows how to sow and fertilize and bring forth the Harvest. That is right according to Scripture.
There is a lot of great spiritual gardening advice for me to think on in your blog, Sara! It’s an expansive garden. “that, “flowering beauty of fear” sure got my attention as fear and beauty don’t seem to belong to the same plant. But your weed story helped me see (at least from my understanding perspective) that weeds can have a beautiful, showy bloom to get the attention of pollinators, which then helps produce seeds, which then spreads more weeds. Looks like fear is a vicious cycle, perpetuating itself by much drama but no productivity in the garden.
Sara’s statement, “When we have friends, mentors, or others that plants seeds of honesty in our lives fear really has no breeding ground” brought a part of scripture to mind, …”perfect love casts out fear”. As someone who has struggled with fear, this verse seems to supply an antidote, but I don’t think I have ever fully understood it. However, reading and thinking on ‘seeds of honesty” I see that that is real love and as Sara explains, when planted, weeds stop producing. Now that’s helpful advice for a healthy garden!
I don’t see any weeds in Chris’s garden photo…that is sure beautiful and inspiring!
I have often heard when we better understand the life cycle of seeds we better understand the life cycle of humans and animals. Yes, a seed!
“A seed”………sure undergoes some tremendous changes to become the beautiful fruit and vegetable bearing plants that they do. Hum…..
Tammy, tremendous pressure is exerted on the seed after it is sown in the soil to bring forth a harvest of fruit or product…. after its own kind.
It would seem that the seed that is planted in the soul, whether good seed or bad seed …what kind of pressure is exerted to bring forth after its own kind? Debi wrote of ”seeds of honesty”. I wonder how much pressure it takes within one’s soul to bring forth a harvest of honesty and integrity
MG, look at what is written in Job 2:3 “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
Thinking on Sara’s comment about “understand the life cycle of seeds”; and Tammy’s thought, “sure undergoes some tremendous changes”; and what MG said, “pressure is exerted’, made me think that in order for the cycle to even begin, seed’s coat or hard outer protective covering usually has to be broken or opened. I read that a seed can stay asleep for many years (even a couple of thousand) and then be awakened. Usually watering a seed breaks the coat, but sometimes it needs to be dipped in acid, scarred with sandpaper or a file; submitted to either really cold or hot temps, etc. Maybe this relates to the heart being hard?
Proverbs 28:14 says: “Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.”
Tammy’s scripture quote of “falls into trouble” sure gives fodder for thought.
Trouble, I don’t like, do you? Reading all of Chaper 28 of Proverbs gives a very clear outline and summons to understand how not to harden the heart and tells me the exact trouble to expect! 🤔