My Row to Hoe

I find it ironic that the Lord uses plants so often in the lessons He teaches me, because honestly, I am the worst gardener in the world. If I've ever managed to keep anything alive, it is purely by accident. Cacti are my best bet, because the dear things cling tenaciously to life over the weeks, sometimes months, of lack of water.

My poor Christmas cactus - it really deserves a name; it has earned it after the trials I've put it through over the last eleven years - still sports gorgeous pink flowers every November through January. In the worst and driest of times, it is still faithful to show the beauty of God's creation. In the sandiest of soils, it still blooms; with the driest roots, it still buds.

This speaks to me on all sorts of deep levels. I mean, look at 2020. If I ever needed an example of a year that has tested my roots, here it is. But the Holy Spirit has filled up my limbs with nourishment, so that even when I'm feeling the dry soil and the hard earth around me, He sustains me! Hallelujah!

I thought Peter and John and the rest of the believers prayed an excellent prayer in Acts 4:24-30:

"Sovereign Lord," they said...

(Still sovereign today!)

"You made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

(Thank You, Lord, that You are the Creator of all things, whether we acknowledge You or not - You are our Provider!)

You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

(Wow, Lord, I'm pretty sure that's the case today, too.)

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.'

(You ain't kidding; I just read several news pages today illustrating so much unrest in our nations, Lord, and no one acknowledges You! You say in Matthew 12:30: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.")

Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

(Lord, I'm gonna say that one more time: they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen! You work in believers and unbelievers alike! Your will cannot be stopped. You have set your plans in place, and who can stand against them? You are the Alpha, the Omega, the First, the Last! I praise you, Lord! You are the Almighty! You are the Lord over every last circumstance!)

Now Lord, consider their threats and enable Your servants to speak Your word with great boldness!

(Amen, Lord!!!)

Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."

This morning I sat at a table with Jesus across from me, and I plopped a wrapped up, misshapen, bulky bundle of worries and questions on the table. "Lord," I said, "I don't know what to do with these. They don't fit in the cubbyholes I've carved out for them." To one side stood a wall filled with what looked like our church mailboxes: small square holes of uniform size where I had placed most of the rest of my thoughts and worries, each one carefully labeled. But the package on the table was full of things that didn't fit.

So Jesus unwrapped it and looked at those things. I took a deep breath. "What should I do with these objects, Lord? Are they truly from You? All of them?"

I didn't hear direct words back, but I did feel a tug back to the Scripture I'd just read in Acts, particularly in verse 28: "They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." And I got the sense that I don't need to do anything with the bulky objects; Jesus is already taking care of that. He is already using those wonky, weird-shaped things in the way that He has intended, and it's not necessarily my place to try to make those things fit into one of my own cubbyholes.

After that, I was suddenly standing at the end of a row in my garden (more plants! What is up with that, Lord?). It was a row of tomato plants. Next to me was a friend of mine who stood at the head of a row of bean plants, and on down the garden, were other rows of plants. At the ends of each row were other Christians for whom I was praying. Even my husband had a different row than I did.

The Spirit nudged me and said, in effect: This is all my garden, but I've given you the tomatoes. Don't worry about the bean plants. Those are assigned to someone different.

Not only was this a relief to me, it was a huge realization that I have been trying to fit God's plans, His revelations, His work... into my tomato row. He's given me a row to hoe, and my row isn't the only one in His garden!

He's given each one of us a row to hoe! Our gifts are so different, and God uniquely situates each of us to be able to accomplish those things exactly the way He wants us to. I could never preach the way pastor friends of mine do, or teach the way teacher friends of mine do. Each of our rows look vastly different from each other, but those rows are all in the same garden, and God uses us to tend to the things He's given us.