Conformed to Christ
A warm breeze blows softly through the trees, ruffling summer leaves like laundry on a clothesline. The quiet stillness of nature settles in as I prune the dead leaves from my tomato plants, pinch away dry squash blossoms, cut the woody branches of basil. In the distance, the faded echo of hammering. The faraway bark of neighborhood dogs. The imagined sound of stars turning on, the fabricated plinking of light awakening in the dimming sky. I turn on the hose, showering the vegetable garden in a cool summer rain of my own making, watching the parched soil darken and swallow the water in gratitude.
God is always speaking.
But sometimes we must turn down the volume of our own mind, our world, our lives to clearly hear Him. In nature, I hear him clearer. I feel Him closer. I see Him better. The whole earth becomes a sanctuary, every breath a psalm, each moment a song of praise when we see God as the awesome Creator that He is and exalt Him as such.
With my dad’s help, I picked up gardening a couple months ago. My dad built me a planter box and picked up some veggie starts and I’ve been a gardener (a novice!) ever since. God has shown me so much through this new hobby. I may even start a “garden wisdom” series on here to share what I’ve been learning!
Who or what are you staked to?
One thing God spoke to me yesterday while I was gardening was that our growth is influenced by what we conform to. In the garden, I’ve found that the right support yields better growth. After staking up my tomatoes and squash, vegetable growth increased in quantity and quality. My plants seem healthier and stronger, able to reach their potential now that their growth pattern is conforming to the stable, unchanging strength of the stake they are attached to.
Spiritually, when we stake ourselves to Jesus, we attach ourselves to the unchanging person of Christ. We become rooted to truth and our growth pattern begins to reflect that. We begin to bear more fruit - the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). We begin to grow taller and stronger as we follow the upward call of Christ and rely on Him to teach us how to live lives in light of heaven. We no longer bend as easily. We are connected to God’s power to live our days in a way that honors Him. We know who we are and grow according to the pattern of Jesus. Our identity is found in Him and we are transformed as we conform to His way of thinking, serving, loving, giving, forgiving, walking, speaking, living.
The right support changes everything.
What we build on and attach to dictates our growth. It influences our fruit. It affects our health. It changes our source of strength. When we remain unstaked, we must rely on our own strength, which is minimal, fleeting, exhaustible. When we yield to Jesus and allow Him to be the foundation we build on, He becomes our source of strength. When we remain connected to Him, as the branches connected to the Vine, we bear much fruit (John 15:5).
My encouragement today is this: allow Jesus to be the stake you conform your life to. Allow Him to be your strength. Invite Him to dictate your growth pattern and your direction. Rest on Him when the growing gets tough, when it seems as if the harvest will never come, when the wind and the scorch of life become all too much. In due time, God will bring about fruit. He will bring about a spiritual harvest. And you’ll know that He is the only One worth building your life on.