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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

rest and peace



i know this is a gardening blog but from time to time i will share my heart and some things that matter most in life. along those lines i'd like to quote from oswald chambers' book, my utmost for his highest. these words struck me the first time i read through them and i continue to go back to them lately and ponder them.

"...fretting means getting out at elbows mentally or spiritually. it is one thing to say "fret not" but a very different thing to have such a disposition that you find yourself able not to fret. it sounds so easy to talk about "resting in the lord" and "waiting patiently for him" until the nest is upset-until we live, as so many are doing, in the tumult and anguish, is it possible then to rest in the lord?... resting in the lord does not depend on external circumstances at all, but on your relationship to God himself.






fussing always ends in sin. we imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an inclination of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. our lord never worried and he was never anxious, because he was not "out" to realize his own ideas; he was "out" to realize God's ideas. fretting is wicked if you are a child of God.





... all our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God."





i go to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses... from an old hymn we used to sing when i was a child. i find peace and rest in prayer and i find i pray a lot in the garden.

4 comments:

  1. "And He walks with me and He talks with me..." I remember that hymn as well. Thanks for the deep thought this afternoon...I wish it was as easy as Oswald Chambers made it sound!

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  2. thanks for this post. i needed it and will probably read it again and again. having people tell me not to worry is irritating. it's like telling me to relax. believe me, if i could relax I WOULD! so thanks for this post. i find myself worrying about family members a lot...and things that they are dealing with that i can't physically do anything about. one line you quote from chambers: "all our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God" makes me realize that i need to throw my calculator away. (never was much good at math anyway.)

    pretty garden view too. like the arbor.

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  3. Thanks for this reminder from Oswald Chambers. I used his devotions "My Utmost for His Highest" for years, but put it aside at some point. Yesterday, I searched out my copy to use again. It is highlighted and worn, but timeless.

    For instance, in today's writing (7/11), he speaks of 'The Spiritual Saint'. Quoting in part: "The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. ... Self-realization leads to the enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. ... Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial work".

    Sounds like your gardening and the beauty you have produced are a result of your relationship with Him, and honors Him in the overall efforts you have made. So your garden is an actual witness to others of what one can accomplish, when all is done as unto the Lord. Thanks so much for sharing His "rest and peace" with us through your blog.

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  4. sg: it's amazing you quoted from today's devotion the exact phrases i highlighted this morning. the verse today from Phil 3:10 is one of my all time favorites... "that I may know Him".

    Thanks for stopping by - love your comments.

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Have a blessed day,
Meems


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