New Flowers, Dirty Hands, and A Wrenched Back...

A Story in Pictures...

Today, We decided to do some gardening.

Before Shot

It was hard work! Let's just say I can hardly move now:) My mom gave me ice cream to make my back feel better...

It worked much better when I was younger.

 I am still in pain.

Did you know that one of my pet peeves is having messy hands. I have weened myself from obsessive compulsively cleaning my nails out 40 times day to once a day... 

When I saw my fingers, I nearly had a panic attack. I used the nail cleaners 20 times so far, and they finally look half way clean. 

P.S. Yes, I know I have the hands of a 5 year old...They are extremely small;)

After

Meet Cody...

He has stinky breath, 

but he is the sweetest dog I've ever met.

He is 11 years old, but he still acts like a puppy.

He REALLY  likes to have his picture taken. I asked him to smile for the camera...he sat perfectly still and smiled for the camera. 

Gardening is hard work! I think my wrist may fall off some time during the night, but at least I'll have an exciting blog tomorrow if this does happen:) As I was gardening, I was thinking about how the Lord prunes and tends to me. I was looking at the worms I was cutting in half, the roots I was chopping into pieces, and the hard ground I had to dig up. This scripture came to mind: 

"Sow for yourselves righteousness,

Reap the fruit of unfailing love, 

and break up the unplowed ground, 

for it is time to seek the Lord, 

until he comes and showers righteousness on you."

Hosea 10:12

Fallow Ground or unplowed ground is the topsoil that is very usable but must be torn up and broken apart in order to bring new life. The flowers that were in this flower bed were dry and struggling. They were planted in unplowed ground. In order to plant a new flower and have it thrive, I had to break up this dry ground. It got me to thinking about the fallow ground that I have in my heart, and I began to see the Lord's hand. His hand has been ever so gently breaking up the hard places in my heart, yet I often times push his hand away in order to protect myself from the pain of it...But I must know that once I've had that ground in my heart touched by the Lord, he can bring something new...something beautiful.  I must allow the Lord to break up those hard places in my heart, and remove the thorns and roots that prevent me from growing. 

I can allow this to happen with great joy, knowing that when something is torn up, removed, broke, cut out...there is new life coming.