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Andrea Fortenberry

Growth and Change in the Garden

May 13, 2013 By admin

13 May

“But a certain sign of grace is this:

From the broken earth flowers come up pushing through the dirt.”

– “Wholly Yours” by The David Crowder Band

Every day I am so excited to look at my garden. I examine each plant and look to see how it has grown and changed since the previous day. Sometimes it seems like there’s no change, but other days I notice that lots of growth took place.
 
Here are two pictures I want to share with you: the first is of the garden the day after planting and the other is what it looks like now.

 

Last week I had a few flowers appear on my bell pepper plants. Today I saw that the first one had lost its leaves. I crouched down to get a closer look and I saw a tiny bell pepper! Right now it’s miniature, but I know that in the weeks to come, it will continue to grow and change before my eyes.

I mentioned last time that so much of what I’m observing in the garden has spiritual application for us. Today I thought about how much God must enjoy seeing us grow and change. Just as plants have a life cycle, we too undergo a growth process in our own lives that mimics that of a plant.

It’s hard to change into something new. Plants make it look so easy, but remember that they begin as seeds, pressing through the dark, damp soil to germinate into new life. Like us, they go through a difficult, sometimes painful process of transforming into who they were destined to become.

I can’t help but to think that just as I look with anticipation at the growth of my plants, God must smile as He sees us slowly, day by day changing from who we once were to who He wants us to become —more like Jesus. Sometimes the changes are subtle, but eventually they give birth to fruit, visible for others to see.

I bet that when we look at our lives and wonder if we’ll ever change our bad habits or move forward from the places that we feel stuck, God looks at us and sees our potential. When we’re being watered through His Word and focused on His Son, growth will happen. Slowly, surely and beautifully. I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope!

If you could be a plant, what would you want to be? I’d want to be my favorite, a purple hydrangea. I’d totally plant them in my backyard if I could, but they won’t survive the heat of Arizona. So for now, maybe I’ll be a bell pepper plant.

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Filed Under: change, growth

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Comments

  1. Beth Giannini says

    November 13, 2013 at 7:47 pm

    I like many of your posts, but especially this one, because of the Crowder song quote. 🙂

  2. web hosting providers says

    August 10, 2020 at 4:05 am

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Meet Andrea


Hi! I’m Andrea Fortenberry. I help women find freedom from perfectionism to show up for the life God has for them. Being a wife and mother of two gives me lots of material and teaches me oh so many things!

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