16-Jan-2021_a lovely garden made by the Gardener
More from the “Seeds of David”: Praisefulness and blessed bliss

Hello, pretty heart. I do see a lovely garden, with flowers of all sorts growing there. The butterflies are dancing here and there. It’s a truly delightful place to be.
Oh, what have we here? A little stump-like plant. It’s like the base of a fruit bearing tree that has yet to grow in full again. It doesn’t have all these branches, and it’s might not be the prettiest plant in the garden, but that doesn’t mean it’s of no worth. It was growing elsewhere, but now has been cut back and replanted here. 
But look at all the other gorgeous things around. There are rose bushes of all types; so many pretty colours. There are tall and lovely fruit trees that have given of themselves year after year. And oh, there’s the bench down by the stream, the tranquil and lovely stream that sparkles in the sun. The birds love to play near its banks. The shade of the trees over the bench makes it so very inviting. The master of the garden frequently visits. Some things are cleaned and cleared away. 
If someone were to look at a pile of the old and brown leaves that were raked up, and some lifeless branches that were trimmed, they’d probably get the idea that it was an ugly, old, and dying garden. But no, that means the garden is being tended too. Why? Because it’s filled with so much good, and the gardener wants to maintain it. 
I’ll tell you, if the garden were all bad and old and nothing beautiful there, there would not be evidence of pruning and garden waste. There would be no point in taking time on that. But if things are being worked on, that means there is a whole lovely garden, that the gardener has made so pretty. 
Every year He adds new things, strengthens others parts of this garden, and takes away whatever is holding back new growth and new life. It’s all to make it more lovely. 
So, it’s not that you are all bad, and have to be removed, just because some aspect of your life had to change, or would no longer be profitable. Perhaps the gardener wanted to add a new feature to the garden; perhaps a new sitting place, where He could invite others to enjoy all the work He has put into it so far.
No, you aren’t washed up and of no earthly good. And it’s not even that “the Lord can make something better out of you”. He has already made something really lovely. So don’t worry about some loss, and that it might look to you that it’s better you were moved on from the situation, due to your faults and failings. 
Maybe that is the case, but so what, it’s really just a little part of a plant in the flourishing and beautiful garden of your soul. You are more than the sum of some mistakes. You are so much more than even what you have been for the past few years. There is so much more to you than what you or others view of you and your life.
I know you don’t focus on how great you are, and that’s why I’m taking you for a walk through the lovely garden, you, that Jesus made. There is so much more good to you than what has had to be taken away, in order for the new features to be added.
You are not that cut down, brown, stump. You are the full, awesome garden. Let’s stop looking at that old feature that makes you cry. Come, let’s sit down under this tree for a picnic. Did you keep watering this tree? You’ve kept it going well. You could have given up, since you didn’t have many to visit and to appreciate the fruit it was bearing. But let’s sit down under its shade and just enjoy and appreciate it. There are so many, so so many good and lovely features to your garden. It’s a lovely place to be.
Oh, and is that a bridge down there over the streamlet? You made it out of the rocks the gardener placed around. At first you didn’t know why there needed to be rocks in a garden, but when He and you started to get to work clearing them, you found they were like hidden pieces to a puzzle, a 3D puzzle that formed a lovely bridge. It wasn’t easy clearing them away, but now it adds so much more beauty, and makes the garden even more attractive, and new places accessible for visitors.
It’s a lovely garden. Be glad for the lovely life He has given you. 
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