Recently Jerry and I took a trip to Mackinaw Island While there we saw magnificent gardens arrayed with a variety of flowers and plants. To say they were breathtaking would be an understatement. Now I have been to the island numerous times in my life so I was just walking to walk, you know getting my steps in for the day. I was enjoying a nice breeze off of Lake Huron on a hot summer day. Yes the scenery was beautiful but if I'm honest I wasn't really enjoying it and I wasn't looking for a walk among the flowers. I was there to walk and shop. Jerry suggested we start at the Grand Hotel and work our way down. The thing is the gardens there are magnificent, well taken care of and stunningly manicured. I didn't expect to take a walk in the garden, that is sometimes out of my comfort zone. But my loving hubby coaxed me to take a journey with him.
My comfort zone was being pushed, but Jerry knows me all to well and knew I'd love the flowers. I did! Although I don't think I let him know that, until now. He knows my love of flowers runs very deep in me. there is something about the beauty of flowers and nature that connects me deeper with God. The different colors and shapes and textures just make these gardens here glorious. Not a weed in place, well watered and cared for, these gardens thrive, even in a time of drought. Flowers take time and a great deal of water and work if they are to grow. Trust me, my flower gardens don't look like this, yet. This picture doesn't even do justice to these gardens.
As I now look at this picture I am reminded of a passage of scripture that speaks about us being a well watered garden and our lives will flourish. If you just take this scripture out without reading the verses before or after you'll miss the entire point. We can be like a well watered garden but we need to take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans. But one thing some miss out on is that we can be so busy doing God's work that we neglect ourselves and our families. What good is it if we are so busy feeding the poor that we forget to eat ourselves and die of starvation? Okay this may be a slight exaggeration but I hope you get my point. We cannot take care of others and help others if we are physically sick. We can't minister to others if we're not spending time with God by ourselves. There has to be a balance and I know for some of you that balance is hard to get to, but we must strive to find it.
Isaiah 58:11 (Amplified) And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a well watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
When we find that balance and learn to help others but still be there for our families and still take care of ourselves, we will be like a well watered garden and we will flourish in ways we never dreamed possible. Over work and over extending ourselves is a big problem in this world today. This world needs help. The poor, the widows and the orphans need to be taken care of and together we can do it but just like a garden needs to be cared for, we need to take care of ourselves. If we don't we will become a dead garden full of weeds and dried up, dead plants that could not survive the drought. Balance equals a well watered garden that gives life and hope to all who experience it.
Isaiah 58:11 (Amplified) And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a well watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
When we find that balance and learn to help others but still be there for our families and still take care of ourselves, we will be like a well watered garden and we will flourish in ways we never dreamed possible. Over work and over extending ourselves is a big problem in this world today. This world needs help. The poor, the widows and the orphans need to be taken care of and together we can do it but just like a garden needs to be cared for, we need to take care of ourselves. If we don't we will become a dead garden full of weeds and dried up, dead plants that could not survive the drought. Balance equals a well watered garden that gives life and hope to all who experience it.
