Tests and challenges of the garden

James 1:2-12
2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3 You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5 If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. 6 Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. 7 Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, 8 adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
9 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! 10 And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. 11 You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.
12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Just never know what a day will bring in the garden. Walked out the door to pick up the paper and found a deer dead at the bottom of my steps. Phoned the authorities, no one available until Tues. Hmmm!! Whats's a girl to do? Well when you have the finest neighbours in the world call them. Quick as a wink the remains are removed and will be carted for a burial, with a plant on top. Blessings abound in this neighbourhood. 

Maturity comes in differing ways in the garden, some blooms produce seeds and then die. Others grow deeper in the ground, roots spreading and reaching higher and higher, for generations to appreciate. Some are short lived with tender leaves and blossoms and a little drought takes them out.There are the biennials that grow the first year, bloom the second year and if the weather is gentle may even take root and continue. There are differing stages of maturity for fruit, taking some as long as seven years to produce a decent crop, others produce it the very first season

My life is like a combination of all those things. Some areas I bloom and die quickly, others I go down deep into the life of God and produce some real character traits that even surprise me. I was down at Whiffin Spit yesterday and watched the wind whipped waves, gorgeous to watch but gone before the camera could even click. It helped me get a perspective on that type of prayer. Quick over and over again, said a little differently but no depth to them, just surface stuff, not touching my heart. When the waves are wind whipped the spray is carried away to be seen no more but when trees are wind whipped  the branches are tossed and broken left lying in the garden to be raked and carried off by some human who has nothing better to do.  

Sometimes the brokenness of my life produces real fruit, an immediate response from the Father. The pruning enhances the life and enriches other's lives. So I ask for courage and encouragement as the winds of life whip my soul and I enter the treasures in the darkness without fear but totally in love with God and trusting Him completely. Sometimes the brokenness seeps into resentment, anger, and resistance to the only One who is able to transform me. Keep me from myself and my thoughts dear God, let me seek your face and your heart, your good and perfect will.