Today's Word

‘Our Father in Heaven, help us to honor your name . . . ’ Matthew 6:9(CEV)

Today's Reflection: Working in the Yard

Have you been praying the Lord’s Prayer? I so much hope that you are growing in prayer and that part of your growth is praying what we call the Lord’s prayer. We pray, “hallowed be Thy Name” which means “Reveal who You Are” or “May Your Name be kept Holy” or “we honor Your Holy Name”. And in doing so we ask to the mean through which that happens. 

My dad was a landscaper. He loved beauty.  When he conceptualized a landscape plan you could see him fully “into” his work and when the plan became reality you could see how happy and proud he was of his work. All the incredible hard work had been worth it for him.  

This week I received the following email which gave me chills as a read it.

Jeff, As you talked about in your sermon yesterday, I also have come to recognize that it is this earth that will be transformed into the new earth and future heaven much as I shall be transformed. What occurred to me Sunday as you preached, was that this means that landscapers and gardeners have a much more important role than I may have previously appreciated. I mean, could they be like pastors for the land? Helping it to be transformed into the wondrous beauty it shall become.

What a beautiful picture and thought, “pastors for the land”.   Land  “transformed into the beauty of what it shall become”. Exactly, exactly, exactly!  

And with that we’ve learned how to differentiate between beauty which is an objective thing (beauty is not in the eye of the beholder) and corruption of it. Beauty is that which anticipates, foreshadows, points toward God’s new heaven and new earth. It can be discerned by asking “Is that which I am beholding a vehicle through which I see a beauty from God and Jesus Christ?” Or does that which I behold corrupt the beauty that comes from God? (see Philippians 4:8).  

I love trying to make my yard beautiful. I am never satisfied, but that’s because perfection comes in the next life. But I can anticipate it now. With my shovel, digger, rake, hoe, and potato hook I can be a “pastor of the land transforming my tiny section of it into an anticipation of the wonderous beauty it shall become!!!” Wow!

Prayer
 
“Lord, thank you for beauty and thank you for showing me that not all that is called beauty is beauty. Lord, please lead me to honor your Name, to be a vehicle through which you can be revealed, and to use my time and energies in such a way that what I do reveals you, even in working on my yard. In the Name of the Author of Beauty, Jesus Christ, Amen”