Kyle
began his first garden with such enthusiasm. He was excitedly thinking about
growing pretty flowers like grandma had in her garden. He found the hoe and
shovel, and had seeds and everything else he would need. But Kyle had many
things in his garden space that he did not need. Sharp blackberry thorns pricked
him as he walked through the vines that were everywhere.
| He also had rocks everywhere. |  |
Kyle chopped away at the blackberry vines. The branches grabbed his pants and poked him until blood rolled down his legs. He wanted his garden anyway, so he kept cutting away the brambles.
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He dreamed of having a garden as nice as grandma's. She had pink flowers, red flowers, daffodils and so many sweet smelling blossoms. |
After awhile he just began stomping down the berry vines and whacking at them with his hoe. It was very difficult to prepare the soil. He decided he would just plant his seeds before the ground was cleared. After all, the berries grew without fixing anything at all.
Kyle became very upset because the blackberries seemed to pop up overnight right where he wanted flowers to grow. No one could see his flowers. The berry vines just took over his garden.
The rocks made less space available for his flowers to grow. They were everywhere.
| Kyle needed help. He needed his big brother to till his
garden. He needed the rocks out of the way.
Finally, all was ready. There were no rocks. All blackberry roots were gone and the ground was waiting for plants. |
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Later
in grandma's swing, Kyle had a nice visit with grandma. He brought her a basket
of flowers. Grandma asked Kyle if he thought he should get help from Jesus, his
big brother, to get the bad habits out of his life. The thorn bushes are like
sins we must get out of our lives. Jesus could help till up the soil of his
heart. When the roots of the habits are gone, they will not come back. When you
give your heart to Jesus every morning, He helps get the weeds out by the roots.
Grandma Sue helped Kyle to see that the rocks are like hard feelings. When someone punches or scratches him, he needs to forgive and pray for the person who did it to him. He must not hold any hate in his heart garden or he would have nothing wonderful to share.
The best prayer example we have for this is how Jesus prayed for those who kicked Him, pulled out His beard, shoved thorns on His head and beat Him up. He prayed, "Father forgive them, for they don't really understand what they are doing." (Luke 23: 34) Getting rid of the rocky hard feelings and sharp thorny weeds of habits is what God wants us to do. Then He can give His oil.
Next Garden lesson: Vine Stands Alone