Yesterday we went to get a new trellis for my garden - some of my clematis' seem to have gone mad and we desperately needed to sort them out. While we were at the garden centre I saw a new climber plant apparently new for 2008 - she was reduced from £10 to £2-49 and although she had one purple flower she looked very sad, this plant won my heart - you could tell she needed some plant food, a new pot, new soil, some regular watering and a little love and attention so I brought it!
When my husband had put up the trellis I had the enormous task of unravelling the old clematis' and guiding them along their new path of growth - it was no easy task! The plants had wrapped themselves tightly around the existing trellis, themselves and other plants - it was a case of very gently unravelling the knots and straightening it out. I wondered if the plant may be shocked by the change but at the end of the day there is much more room for growth, expansion, more room to blossom and flourish - it reminded me of my life: all the knots and confusion that the chief Gardener is slowly unravelling, the mess that I have got myself into and showing me the new path of growth. I know that in the days ahead there will be some pruning and it won't be easy and it may hurt but He can see the bigger picture, He can see the potential of growth, of fruitfulness, of blossoming to be beautiful for Him, so that people look at me and praise the Gardener for how He has nurtured me, pruned me, shaped me, fed me, enabled me to grow.......
Now to the new plant - the one that I purchased knowing that it needed care and attention, before the day was done she was in a new pot, a bigger pot with brand new compost full of added minerals etc, she had slow release plant food mixed in with the soil, she was put up against the new trellis so she had more than just the bamboo cane in her pot, she was watered. Some may have picked up that pot and said that there was no hope for that plant, some may of thought that they would rather purchase something in perfect condition, laiden already with flowers and perfect with no defects. When I looked at this plant bizarrely I felt compassion - (OK so I love plants and I am the sort of person who will go and pick up ones that are knocked over in the garden centre and yes I will talk to them! Crazy huh!) Anyway I felt compassion - she needed some care and attention, I looked at this plant and I saw the potential - she may not be able to produce more flowers this year, but next year when she has had a year of care, a year of finding her roots in this new pot, of being fed and nurtured - next year I am confident that she will burst forth with beautiful blooms. See where I am getting at?
When we were puchased at the cross it wasn't because we were in perfect condition - in fact it was the opposite we were purchased because of the mess we were in and in that state of mess we won His heart, He loved us! He paid the ultimate price, took us in re-potted us, fed us, nurtured us, watered us, He saw the potential. This morning the first thing I did when I came down the stairs was go to the window and look out on my new plant - excited by the possibility that she may look a bit better even for yesterdays bit of care.
I believe that the Father is excited over His children just as the Gardener is excited over the adopted broken plants that He carefully tends. Once again I am at the point of listening to the Father's song, of hearing Him sing 'I love you, I have chosen you to be mine.' And yet at the same time I feel a sense rising in my heart that this is a new day - there is something bursting forth on this Sunday morning - something is about to break forth and surprise me, expectation rises in my heart that this new day that yes involves pruning, that involves some untangling also involves some moving forward, of growth and it is laiden with potential in His hands......... expectation is rising............. my heart leaps at the thought of His touch............. noone else is like Him (they don't even come close!)........... He is coming to unravel, to touch, to heal, to make whole, He is coming to bless, to restore, to feed, to water, to nurture.......... His love is unrivalled, His grace unmatched and His awesome power unequalled........... no one else is like Him, nothing this World can offer can satisfy like He does, no one else thrills my soul, my heart, my being, like The Lord does....... I wait for Him and long for Him and yearn for Him and my whole being cries out to Him ........... I hear His call to me to come away with Him and there is no fear just ecstasy, just delight.............
Who can cheer the heart like Jesus,
By His presence all divine?
True and tender, pure and precious,
O how blest to call Him mine!
~
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see.
~
Love of Christ so freely given,
Grace of God beyond degree,
Mercy higher than the heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea!
~
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see.
~
What a wonderful redemption!
Never can a mortal know
How my sin, tho red like crimson,
Can be whiter than the snow.
~
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see.
~
Every need His hand supplying,
Every good in Him I see;
On His strength divine relying,
He is all in all to me.
~
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see.
~
By the crystal flowing river
With the ransomed I will sing,
And forever and forever
Praise and glorify the King
~
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
And the fairest of ten thousand
In my blessed Lord I see.
~
Thoro Harris 1931
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