Planting Flowers

It’s been a busy week and it only get’s busier. I worked six days in a row last week, then I was off on Friday and mow I am in the middle of seven straight days. The good news is that I have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. Oh well, only four more days now. I was just thinking about all the people who were thinking that the rapture was going to happen. I know that they are disappointed and I hope that they can find true peace in knowing that God truly loves them. None of us really know what God is up to; especially in the end times. If we did, we would be God. I know that’s not the fact.

Last Friday on my day off, Sheryl and I planted some flowers in the front and back yard. The yard was definitely in need of some tender loving care. We went to Wal-Mart and bought the flowers and some potting soil. We then spent the rest of the day planting and putting out pine straw. The yard looks a lot better. It was the first time in a long time that I enjoyed doing anything in the yard. I know the backyard was glad to see someone besides me giving it some care.

It’s amazing how much fun something can be when you are doing it with someone you like. It’s a lot like that in worship and prayer. If you are doing these things alone and out of a need to do them, then they can be very dull and very hard to do. On the other hand, if you like hanging out with Holy Spirit, they can be a lot of fun. They are fun because you are doing them with someone you like.

So we got the flowers planted, but then I wasn’t home all weekend except late at night so they almost died because I wasn’t there to water them. It’s not enough just to plant flowers. No, you have to be there to care for them, or at least have a friend come care for them. I hope that the ones in the front survive. They were in the worst shape because they get more of the hot afternoon sun.

Intimacy is cultivated. You have to work at it. A relationship, whether it is with a person or with God, requires constant attention. It has to be watered, otherwise it withers and dies when it is put under the hot sunlight of life. But if you maintain your relationship with God, then the overflow of His love in you can help fuel your relationships with others. Relationships need a high priority if they are going to blossom. You can’t just expect one to flourish if you are not willing to pay a price. That price is usually time. It doesn’t matter what kind of relationship; the price is always time. But if you want to keep the relationship growing then you are more than willing to give the time.

Time together, that’s what fuels the passion of love. This is the same in the spiritual as it is in the natural. In order to know Papa, we have to spend time with him. It is time well spent and He has the ability to multiply it so that you can still get all of your work done. Planting flowers, yes it was fun doing it together. But everything is fun when you do it with someone you love. That’s what Papa wants of us. He wants us to be so in love with Him that everything we do together is fun. The key word in any relationship is together. It’s not good to be alone.