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| Photo by Dick Williams |
I am but a mere toddler in the field of gardening, but I
love seeing the flowers I plant transform from seeds and seedlings into beautiful blooms. Their delicate
blossoms and wonderful fragrance put a smile on my face every time. I tend to
place my plants in areas where I can see them from our family room so I can
enjoy their beauty and be daily reminded to water them.
Inevitably, among my flowers, weeds sprout up. Sometimes,
when the plants first emerge from the ground, my untrained eyes can’t tell the
weeds from the flowers.
As Christians, we are God’s flowers in the garden of the
world. God plants us where it gives Him the most pleasure. But sometimes I am
slow to bloom and can be hard to distinguish from those who are not following
Jesus.
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| Photo by Pam Williams |
How can we open ourselves to God’s transformation?
Philippians 4:8-9 shares the key: “Fill your minds with those things that are
good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely,
and honorable.”
Guarding our minds requires two steps. Like weeding the
garden, keeping out what can negatively impact us is the first step. This varies
to some degree by individual, but many of these “bad influences” are obvious. Second,
like watering our plants, we need to take a proactive role in inputting what is
good in God’s eyes by reading His Word, listening to Christian teaching
(whether from teachers, preachers, writers, musicians, etc), and contemplating
those things that are pure and lovely and honorable.
When we fill our minds with the things of God, they will
take root and bring about positive change. Our thoughts, our words, and our
actions will become more pleasing to God and our faith will grow and blossom.
Be
encouraged!
Pam
