Berwick Thought for the Week article: A Gardener's Lament

Too cold, then too hot; too wet, then too dry. Cheeky weeds overwhelm the plants that I buy!

Beatles and voracious chomping caterpillars, and armies of ants. Cats and dogs that dig up industriously the precious plants.

An aerial bombardment by strategic birds that steal the fruit and leave their insanitary turds.

The seeds I plant stubbornly refuse to germinate until the right season passes and it’s just too late.

Adding in my ignorance – for I just don’t really know how anything in my garden will ever grow?

Maybe I should just pave it and concrete the whole lot in, make it sterile and never dig or fret over it again?

What about the garden of my life? What invader is undermining my best efforts? Have relationships gone awry? Am I struggling financially?

Broadcast bad news brings worry, for the outlook is bleak – it invades my sleep so I cannot retreat into dreamland. Will I ever be happy?

What is life for, what is it all about? Is there any purpose or achievable goal?

Many people give in to such despair. There is hope, but often we look for it in the wrong place: in a secure bank balance, in success and recognition in our work, in holidays and hobbies, in our looks, in exchanging one failed relationship for another.

We each were created for a reason; we need to search for this with diligence.

Story: (Matthew 13:34). A man dug up a valuable treasure in a field. So, he went and sold all he had to buy the field.

Each of us is a precious treasure. We have perhaps been buried by the pressures of life and made apparently worthless.

Jesus gave up all His privileges, even His life, but He came to reinstate us into our destinies as citizens of His Kingdom. If we find Him, we find answers to our questions; we find life.

Rev Kirsten Coulter is a widow, living with two elderly rescue dogs. She is now supporting the leadership of Waypoint Church in Berwick. This is an independent, all-age, community church.