A year ago, to the passing eye, my yard appeared in perfect order. The grass was green. There were blooming shrubs. Tall trees. Bordered plant beds. Then came the much too wet spring, the harsh drought of the summer, the long, hard freezes of the winter.

Those conditions combined with a side walk broken apart by tree roots and flower beds disfigured by rotted and varmint infested railroad ties that serve as their borders make my yard appear more stark than the Sahara desert. The passer-by now sees holes and sawdust where trees and shrubs once thrived.  The landscape is an ugly mess suffering the trauma and devastation of unforeseen stress, tragedy, and turmoil.

My yard will be lovely again. But, it won’t look the same as it did a year ago. I have adopted a new landscape plan. Eucalyptus and magnolia trees will replace sweet gums.  The sidewalk will boast a shapely flagstone instead of drab gray concrete. The rotted railway ties will give way to  brick borders encasing beds of  flowers and vegetables and roses and fruits trees. The original yard, as nice as it was, is but  a shadow of its future self. The work to accomplish this anticipated renewal is ongoing, grueling, painful. A daily enterprise of the exhaustive and exhausting.

backyardGod tends the gardens of our lives in much the same way, never allowing us to remain the same. The old self, by necessity, is constantly being refined, often rebuilt. God has specific, individual, unique plans for each of us. Our own inner landscapes require a daily dose of exhaustive and exhausting immersion with Him through prayer, meditation, journaling, and most important…His Word.

Challenging-a-Statement-of-Truth

I have no doubt that God has a landscape plan for the future of every woman He draws to engage in WBL (Women Business Leaders).  He calls each woman’s heart, day by day, to merge with Him and participate. In doing so, she emerges transformed; a constantly recreated business woman, wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter, and child of God. Sometimes it helps to be reminded of simple ways we can engage with God as He goes about producing the fruit of His Spirit in the Garden of our lives:

7 Tips for Participating With God As He Tends The Gardens of Our Life

  • PRAY
  • READ THE BIBLE
  • BE HONEST
  • BE KIND TO OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE UNKIND TO US
  • SMILE OFTEN
  • LAUGH EVERYDAY
  • LISTEN TO MUSIC

woman gardening

Women of WBL, as part of the landscape being fashioned by The Father, we are each ever a work in progress. How wonderful to personally know The Gardener.

Enjoy being the fruit of His labor!

For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…Galatians 5:22

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