What I like about You

To my knowledge, Sharon Galyon has never planted a petunia.

She's planted lots of other thing though. I know because I walk past them every day. Most all of you know that two months ago we moved down the street to a new house. It had an extra bedroom and we just felt like God was giving us the go-ahead on moving. So we moved into the four bedroom house with tons of flowerbeds. It is the house the Galyon family had recently vacated. When Sharon lived here she was always working in the flower bed --pulling weeds, planting shrubs, watering. One fall she tossed a package of wildflower seeds into the bed that ran across the front of the house. The next spring she had the most beautiful display of wildflowers that I had ever seen.

Yesterday I was in the front flowerbed (I too, love to garden). I was pulling up all the dead foliage, cleaning out the beds, getting ready for spring. I looked down at one particular plant and thought, "Am I going to kill this one by pulling out the dead stuff?"

I didn't know which plant I had, but I did know who had been working that bed.

Sharon had.

And Sharon doesn't plant things that aren't going to continue blooming year after year.

Sharon didn't plant annuals in her garden and she didn't plant them anywhere on the street.

Her time on Montana St. was spent planting seeds that will bloom for years and years, possibly even generations and generations.

She met her neighbors.

She walked her dog.

What does walking a dog have to do with doing things that last? Well, when Sharon walked her dog she walked by every house on the street. When someone was outside she:

Stopped.

She talked with us. She encouraged. She asked what was going on in our life. She asked when my husband would be back home. She asked if we needed anything. She gave me advice on plants, on children, on marriage. She humbly told me what God had taken her through. She told me what things were hard and how she wasn't sure if she'd make it through. Then she'd laugh and offer hope.

Planting seeds that will last.

Why? I mean, good for you Sharon, but why does it matter?

Because, contentment will only come from doing lasting (or eternal things).

And what's going to last?

The only thing worth pursuing is Jesus.

Read this:

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. -1 John 2:15

Did you skip over it?

Go back.

Everything I say on here is rubbish compared to the powerful, TRUE, Word of God.

Since I just plucked that verse out of an incredible passage in 1 John, I want to add that you can only please God if you have been saved from your sin through the only acceptable payment: Jesus.

Please, please go back and read the entire chapter of 1 John 2. It is so cool. If you don't have a Bible, google it.

For those of you who are followers of Jesus, I encourage you to look around and think. How can I sow seeds that will last.

Follow Sharon's example, don't look at your yard [neighborhood, workplace, home] and think:

-We're military.
-We won't live here long.
-I won't ever see this as a beautiful mature garden.

Instead ask:
-What can I do to make this beautiful?

Then do it.

We've gotta do better than this.... we've only got one chance.