Farmhouse Flowers

Two weekends ago I was home to celebrate my sister Krista and my soon to be born niece. We threw the shower inside of a farmhouse which is part of the residential community where my grandparents live. When I first learned that this was where we were going to have the shower I was less than thrilled. But going over all the logisitics  of the baby shower I had to admit that this was the best location. And then when I got to the farmhouse and saw beautiful flowers and set-up, I was glad we were having the shower there. Once again God used the wonderful outdoors to turn my frown upside down :)

Orange flowers, my favorite!

I do wish we could have had the shower outside because of all the wonderful flowers but August in Pennsylvania definitely requires air conditioning.

Farmhouse where we had the shower, we added the balloons:)

Wildflowers bordered the old stone farmhouse, emitting a charming country feel to the place.
The well maintained lawn and patio surrounded by a low stone wall kept the flowers and bushes in place but without a strict structure of a formal garden.

It is a comfort to know that the farmhouse gives the residents a place where they can entertain guests, relax outside of their apartments and enjoy the outdoors without the hassle of maintaining a property or traveling very far.  

The patio also was a great place to take some pictures of me and my sisters!

Kara, Krista (and baby) and me!

 

There was also a small little gazebo nearby with it's own bed of flowers in front. I wish we had taken some photos here too, oh well!

Interesting purple flowers

God continually amazes me in the way He uses His wonderful creations, even in something as simple as the flowers planted outside of a house, to change my attitude and outlook at a situation. This is a good reminder that I feel like I need a lot, but thankfully all I need to do is step outside or look out a window to see God's hand at work:)

Pulling Up Weeds

 My initial intent when creating this blog was to write informative posts about flowers, gardens and trails that I have discovered. But recently I have learned that my Garden Discoveries have not been just about the actual gardens I see but the discoveries that I learned about myself while experiencing God's creation.  This is another post along those lines about what God taught me during the simple act of weeding.

Saturday was another weekend workday at Garfield Community Farms, and it was amazing how many volunteers showed up from different churches and organizations to help. While part of the group went to work on a house renovation project, the rest of us stayed to work in the gardens. The theme of the day? Weeding!! Now normally weeding is not my favorite part of gardening because you have to be careful not to pull up any plants that are suppose to be there. But today the wildflower section I was working in was almost all weeds so it wasn't too hard; if it didn't have a flower on it pull it out.

The section I was working in

All the tall grasses had to go!

While I was working on pulling the weeds out of the ground, I was thinking about the weeds each of us have; the unhealthy habits, thoughts, relationships and other sins that have taken root in our lives. When they are small and just beginning to sprout they look non-threatening. You think that it is okay to leave the small weeds in the ground because the tall beautiful flowers will cover them up and no one will notice if you leave one or two weeds behind. But soon the small weeds will overtake the garden of your heart, and like the tall grasses above, will choke out any beautiful flowers that try to grow.

So what is the best way to get rid of weeds? Just like in gardening you need to pull the weeds out at the root. If you just snap off the weed at the stalk it may look like the weed is gone but it will just grow back. In our lives this means we need to not only confess our sins but actively change how we live; turn our backs on the old ways and start living for Christ in every area of our lives. When I would come across a particularly large and difficult weed I would have to ask for help from one of the other volunteers to help me dig it out. In the same way we can't be afraid to ask for help from our friends, family and spiritual leaders to help us with the deep rooted weeds in our lives.

Now will this mean that weeds will never grow again? Of course not. Weeds are a natural part of every garden and in everyone's life. We just need to continually work on pulling out our weeds so that they won't completely take over and hide all the flowers.

Almost all cleared!

Now there is more room to plant beautiful flowers!!

I hope this will be an encouragement for you to look at what areas of your life need to be weeded. It takes hard work and can be difficult to get started, but once you pull out some weeds you will be amazed by what beautiful flowers the LORD will place in you life now that there is room for them to grow.