I can't complain about gardens, more often than not ours is the disgrace of the street, suburb even. If you give us something green, we will kill it. I promise.
When we lived south there was a Granny who lived across the road from Sam's school. She had long, long, loooong white hair, it was long. So long. She had eyes that pierced the soul like she knew about any secret that I possessed. She was the one who would be the serial killer in CSI or a thriller movie fo shaw!
Every morning rain or sun, winter or summer, you would see her on her knees weeding every single weed. Every one. It was Immaculate. Between each carefully planted flower were pristine white rocks, positioned so perfectly it was like she laid each one in its place. In the rain, she was there. In 40 degree heat, she was there. Her work spoke of her tenacity and discipline. Her garden praised her loyalty and dedication.
One day, she wasn't there.
The next day, she wasn't there.
Slowly each day, I watched her precious prize that she had meticulously loved and cared for, diminish into an unkept forest.
Her masterpiece betrayed her. Without her, it had lost control. It had lost direction. What was once so beautiful, was a shadow of its former self. A " for sale" sign went up, the place was purchased and the garden was demolished and replaced with concrete. The single rose bush that was kept was like the former garden whispering that it once existed. That it once looked over south road and Sunrise Christian School and kept rhythm to all of our routines. It was loved and maintained and cared for, it was glorious. Was.
Like anything you care about maintaining whether it be your nails, gardens or health and fitness, it take pruning and constant attention. It takes discipline and tenacity. If it matters to you, you weed it, you water it, you care for it. You nurture it.
If you don't, it dies.
Some people ask Jas and I how we got to where we are today, which of course makes us laugh because where we are is seemingly so very far from where we could be or want to be. What did it take? How did we survive something so brutal and painful? How do we walk a road of ministry mixed with mental illness?
This is how....
We nuture when we feel like punching.
We love when we feel resentment.
We stay when we feel like walking away.
We weed the filth that we constantly grow it each other's lives and we replace it with laughter and teasing and being together.
Do you know how hard it has been to maintain our overgrown forest of a marriage? Not easy. Ask anyone married for a long period of time. A good marriage does not come easy, especially when you have lived a lot of life together and life has thrown its irrefutable curve balls at you.
But here's the key to why you will never hear that the McPhee's got a divorce...
You will drive past the proverbial Sunrise Christian School and see us out on our knees weeding the hearts of each other and our children. You will see us watering and trimming and on our hands and knees doing the ground work to make this work.
To make the most of every single thing we have been entrusted. We will weed our ministry and our own personal lives because whatever you don't maintain will die.
This is also so very relatable to our walk with God.
If I'm on a health kick it has uptake. Making a green juice the first day is awesome, I feel great. But that juice I spent an hour adding horrid ingredients to until it tastes like something out of Bella's nappy, it is no good for me the next day.
That juice I made yesterday was awesome for that day, but it isn't helping me get through today with a health kick. I need to make another one and another and another....
Our relationship with God is the same.
Our relationship with reading God's word is the same. If we rely on what we were taught as kids or what we read last week, we start to lose that sustenance we need constantly. You know where I'm going with this. It's so Christianese but it's one of the core issues with this generation so constantly feeling far away from God. God doesn't leave, we do. God doesn't stop talking, we stop listening.
Can I encourage you to weed your filth. Weed your family garden, weed your marriage, your unforgiveness. Fight for the beautiful garden that you should rightfully own. Work hard for it. Don't give up on it. You get one life. Everyone you have around you is a blessing not promised tomorrow.
Look. After. It.
If you've forgotten what that garden could even look like, it's still there I promise. Just keep chipping away at it, each thorn you pull out and each rose bush that you prune is making a difference.
Fight for it.
All my love xx
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