WALKING IN FAITH
THE WINTER GARDEN BY KAYLENE ARGOT
Hi! It’s your gardening friend back again! I’ve been considering recently what lessons in faith the garden can teach us through winter. At first glance you may wonder what can be found in a winter garden except death, remnants of what was once beautiful? Yet it’s from the winter garden that the spring garden bursts, and through winter energy is stored to sustain the plants into the summer and fall! Have you ever considered the seasons you walk through in your faith and applied the lessons that can be seen in a physical garden to the garden of your heart? I’m a busy person. I love working and it brings me great joy to be able to help others. Although these aren’t bad things, it is something I’m having to confront after a long time of skipping “winter,” or skimming over it as if it were something to simply get out of the way. Can you see the problem? Although I never questioned that my strength came from the root, from being found in Christ, I was skimming over the times to build upon that root and wondered why I wasn’t blooming like I wanted. Friends, learn from my journey, as winter is critical to the health of a garden, rest is critical to the health of a heart that is rooted in Christ. The bible talks about the necessity of rest so many times in verses like Psalm 62:1, Psalm 37:7, 1 Peter 5:7, Isaiah 30:15, Isaiah 40:29-31 and in Mark 6:31 where Jesus cares for his disciples by calling them away to rest. Jesus himself was recorded many times going away to secluded places to rest and pray. Every garden has weeds, even the most immaculately cared for ones. In my experience when winter comes around and the busyness dies down, the weeds become more easily seen. There are three ways to deal with this, one, you can avoid the garden, if you’re not in it you can’t see the weeds! Two, you can go through quickly and pluck off the tops of all the weeds so you can’t see them anymore. Quick fix, you’ll deal with it later. Or three, you can get down on your knees, embrace the dirt and maybe even get some friends to help you dig up each nasty weed, roots and all! Although this is practical and true for a garden, it’s also another wonderful analogy for challenges we face when
we enter “winter” in our spiritual life. The weeds are there, even in the most immaculately cared for people. These weeds are the hidden struggles and temptations we overlook or ignore and may be able to hide with busyness. Sometimes we know they are there, and sometimes it takes entering “winter” to recognize how much soil they are claiming. If rest brings attention to the weeds, many people would much rather keep on working. Others seek the quick fix, only to reap the consequences when the weed comes back with extra vigor. I’ve traveled both these paths and can say that neither is helping your garden. Truly the only solution is to get into the garden and get on your knees. Pray and call out to the God who sees you; to the One who knows you inside and out and loves you not for what you do, but because you are His child. You’ll probably have to get dirty along the way, sin is messy and there are situations and struggles that can’t be tied up neatly. But when you finish you will be satisfied and through God’s grace you will have peace. Remember though, when you feel discouraged by the depth of the roots on your weeds or when the garden just seems overrun, there is absolutely no shame in seeking the help of others. In my physical garden I work alongside an awesome group of gardeners who are ready and willing to help when I need a hand. The same has proven absolutely true for the garden of my heart. Not everyone has the expertise needed to work in your garden, but there are those who do! When, by prayer, God shows you who they are, be sure that you unlatch your garden gate and lend them a pair of gloves. Whatever season you are in right now, I pray you will remember that the winter garden is in fact a garden overflowing with God’s grace. It is by grace that you have been called, by grace you are saved, and through grace that God continues to draw you closer to Himself. So, this winter don’t give up on showing up in the garden. When you get there, be still and let God help you take inventory of your weeds, allow others to come alongside you as you draw them up from the root. Rest in God’s grace and the promise that God sees you, God knows you, and God loves you. MKR Magazine February 2022 23
