Garden of Faith


Reflections by the Sea © Betsy Ore Glass
May 12, 2009

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. – Psalm 81:10

I talked to my son this past weekend and he was telling me all about his garden. It is his first. He is starting out small with a few tomatoes, okra, squash, lettuce and herbs. He is very excited. I muse at all of this because this is the child that disliked yard work, flower or vegetable gardening and most of all mowing the lawn. When the Bible says “anything is possible”, I sure believe it! He has done everything right. The proper soil has been added, fertilizer and nutrients tilled in, planted in the right amount of sun and shade. I will get a chance to see his garden in person in a few weeks. Because he has done everything he knows to do, he is living in faith that his work will be rewarded with a good crop of vegetables to enjoy and share. He is living in expectancy of good things to come.

When I wake up in the morning, my mind starts to catalog all the things I have to get done. I make mental note of how I physically feel. And then almost immediately I go right into to talking to God. Thanking him for a good night’s sleep or thanking him for taking the tiredness away and refreshing me. I thank him for the day and for a family and pets to tend to, asking for blessings on each of us as we meet the day. Thinking about friends and circumstances and asking God to meet them right where they are. My prayer time basically starts the minute I wake up. Throughout the day I say, “Thank you, Lord, praise you, Father or please help me, God”. I learned it is important that I have a good attitude about the day all the while knowing and believing that God will protect and watch over me no matter what. That He will bring favor over me and my family and we will all rest in good health. It is the “what ifs” that will destroy faith and create a life lived in fear. Sure, we have had trials and circumstances to overcome, but we try to live a life in expectancy of good things. Some might say to live in hope and expectancy is living in a dream world or a world of denial. But it is the faith that carries us through the hard times. Psalm 71:14 says “But for me, I will always have hope”.

Like planting a garden, we amend the soil and provide the proper nutrients to have the best vegetables or flowers we can have. Nothing will grow well in poor soil. That’s how our faith is…if we face all of our difficulties and problems with fear then our faith can’t grow. God is activated in our life when we live in faith not fear. And when we live a life of expecting good things, it is amazing how good things come to us. Our outlook and attitude is a reflection of what is growing in our “Garden of Faith”.