A Little Gardening Therapy

I was very surprised to be asked to autograph a copy of this month's Advocate while visiting one of the VUMH communities this past week. Of course, the person wasn't serious, but it was nice to be recognized for writing a Bible study lesson.  Here's the devotion for Sunday, September 21, that goes along with the International Bible Study series on Jeremiah 32:2-9, 14-15. If you have missed why I'm sharing these lessons, look back 2 weeks.  Now, for a little gardening therapy..,.

 

War is raging. Jerusalem is under siege. Jeremiah sits in jail for his prophesying. And what does he decide to do?  Buy a piece of land from his cousin.  Everything is going badly yet in the midst of it, Jeremiah decides to make a commitment that shows those around him how God has promised that the future will be different.  Jeremiah demonstrates the kind of hope, the commitment to action, that prepares the ground for the future.  It’s the kind of hope that can prepare the church for a new day, a new reality, a new way of being in community.

 

There is a quote from Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Chilcote that reads “…inner healing requires a long process of divine therapy.”  There are days when I realize that in addition to lots of divine therapy, I need dirt therapy.  I just need to play in the soil – to plant and trim and create.  I need to turn the soil with a shovel and push the wheelbarrow.  There are times when I need to dig up dead rose bushes and replace them with new ones.  And get the scratches to prove I did it.  I need to pull weeds, and haul all the dead stuff to the dump.  There are just times when I need to get dirty and sweat while playing in God’s creation.  Dirt therapy: as a professionally trained social worker, I recommend it highly.

 

As a Christian who knows that no matter what happens God’s final word is always renewal, there’s nothing better to remind me of who is ultimately in charge of all life than playing in the dirt.  When healing and wholeness for whatever struggles we face are needed, there is no better therapy.  The tulips will bloom again, the herbs will grow, the seasons will change.  God is always making an investment in the future.  My job is to prepare the soil, care for the seeds, and prepare for the growth and changes.  As Christians and as a church, do our lives, choices, and priorities show that we are making an investment in the future, or are we too preoccupied with life’s trials and woes? Are you willing today to go out and buy a piece of property? Or even commit to cutting the dead limbs off the rose bush?