It’s almost that time of the year again where we look at how our lawn and garden are doing as they start to show life again. We may lay down mulch, pull weeds, treat diseased plants, water, fertilize, and much more to get everything growing good. However, not every plant survives the winter and some need to be pruned down or uprooted completely.
It’s easy to see where I am going with this. Are we producing any spiritual fruits? Are we blossoming and showing signs of life or are we dying and wilting? Everyday life can be draining on us. If we don’t ensure our soul is given the nutrients it needs, it may shrivel up and die from being out in the extreme elements.
If we saw a dead plant in our garden would we leave it there? Absolutely not! The plant would spoil the beauty of the entire garden. God does the same with us. If our soul wilts and dies, He will uproot it and remove it from the garden. I once had a plant that looked like it was almost dead. I didn’t give up on it. I pruned the plant down significantly and it ended up growing back to twice as big as it was before. Sometimes the suffering we face can make us grow to be twice the person we were before if we direct it in a positive way.
Lent is a perfect time to cultivate our souls. We should look deep at ourselves and see what our soul may be lacking. Maybe we need to pray more or maybe we need to give up doing something that is hurting us. Every year, God gives us another opportunity to work on cultivating and fertilizing our soul. Are we too busy dealing with life to work on our garden? Are the weeds in life choking us? Put in some time and effort into our spiritual garden. Then, when we physically die, we will be able to present Jesus with our beautiful soul.
