Tending Your Marriage Garden

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll remember I often make references to my gardens. Not so much to share gardening techniques or skills, but what’s growing in the gardens.  I think more than in any other place, I find instruction in the garden.  It seems the Lord meets me out there in ways I can never anticipate — but one thing I can or do anticipate is that He will be out there with me and He’ll have something to show me.

So I was walking around today to see the work ahead in the garden.  I shouldn’t wonder, but I do this every year.  And sure enough, the Lord met me in the garden as I was singing and admiring the new growth, the blossoms, the tulips…  And then beside our house there’s that incredibly fast spreading Bishop’s Weed (Aegopodium ‘Variegatum’).  It’s beautiful, soft and such pretty shades of green.  And it spreads everywhere.  Kinda like mint. 🙂

I’d been reflecting on last night mom’s meeting at church where the topic of discussion was: marriage.  And I’d also been thinking of a couple of devotionals I’d read this morning.  So, it’s not surprising that when I was looking at that pretty Bishop’s Weed, I noticed something else — something that wasn’t visible to me last year but seems to have crept in over the winter and into this springtime.

As I have noticed through the years, weeds in the garden tend to look very similar to the plants they grow beside.  In fact, it’s often so difficult to see the difference that it’s easy to miss them entirely.

I stopped to reflect on last night’s talk… on my thoughts that lingered long after the meeting.  I thought on a scripture that wasn’t brought up last night:  “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”  –SongofSolomon 2.15-16.

The leaves of that “Bishop’s Weed” are beautiful, very soft and tender — and if I don’t get out there and remove that invasive dark green weed, it will choke out and overtake the tender plant.  Same with those little foxes–those weeds: poor or wrong attitudes, habits, actions, words in marriage.  Weeds in marriage are pesky, invasive destroyers. Have you thought about those things  lately?

Have you reread some of those earlier embraced books on your shelf?  Have you listened again to recorded messages that were once inspiring to you?  Have you revisited notes, decisions, plans you once had regarding your marriage?  Have you looked back on memories of the sweet words, dates, walks, talks, future-plans?

Is there some cultivating you need to do? You know, every seed grows; and in the seeds of today there are tomorrow’s plants, shrubs, trees, flowers.  Not every seed brings desirable fruit — some are weed seeds — weed seeds that grow into plants and vines that are set to destroy all the beautiful plants. And many a beautiful plant (read: marriage) was destroyed by an invasive weed.

I thought on all this this morning as I took a closer look around the gardens.  And I asked the Lord again, as I did last night, what do You want me to do?  Will you show me the little foxes that are spoiling the vines?  And I ask the Lord… will you fill me and equip me to do Your will, and will You help me to be ever more the wife my husband needs?