Planting Shrubs –
I just finished planting shrubs in the front yard of our house. That was the end of a long process that began months ago. We had to remove a tree that had grown up too close to the house. When I told my wife she told me to remove the overgrown shrubs also. They were over twenty years old and were the size of small trees.
I always intended replace the old shrubs and add more where the tree had been removed. One problem I found was the roots from the old shrubs and the tree were still buried right where I wanted to plant the new shrubs. I also found caliches (hard clay and stones) that I had to dig through and remove. I had the tools and the time to get past each obstacle. It wasn’t an easy job, but I had to do it.
Why did I have to work so hard on these holes? My wife and I decided it would be worth the trouble and expense to have a nice looking yard. If we did the job right, the shrubs would grow strong and healthy and would look good for years to come. That is why we removed roots, stones and caliches, replacing that debris with fertile soil and fertilizer. We also watered the young shrubs to get them started. We wanted the plants to grow healthy and strong.
If we took so much time, trouble and expense with shrubs, what about people? People don’t always have a choice of where they are planted, but maybe we can provide them a better environment in which to grow? We know some of the obstacles they will encounter and know it won’t be an easy task, but we have to do it. If we give them a good place to grow, they have a better chance of succeeding.
Why do we have to work so hard to provide a good Church or Christian education? It is a place where people will be loved and nurtured until they are strong enough to take their faith out into the world. It is a place they can be fed the WORD and watered with the HOLY SPIRIT. They will have room to grow strong roots in the fertile soil of wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
We were told to “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov 22:6). If someone didn’t have the benefit of a Christian home, we can become that spiritual home and fill in the gap. It doesn’t matter the age of the child if we can point them to JESUS and “the way they should go.”
We were also told to not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:25). The Church isn’t just a place for you to receive; it is a place to support others. The day of reckoning is coming. The souls we exhort and show love will spend an eternity with us in Heaven. They may even be the ones that exhort and show us love when we need it most.
Wayne Lance (2017)