God often shows me things when I am out gardening. The other day I was cleaning out a garden bed that was overrun with violets and sea daisies. I had let them grow there to fill the gaps (rather than 'weeds'), but they had taken over to the point that everything else was getting crowded out. I had even lost some plants.
As I was pulling out clumps of violets, I found areas where they had been so embedded and the roots were so dense that the soil underneath was completely dry, even though we had had over 50mm of rain in the few days before. As I dug and pulled I felt God showing me that when my life is over-whelmed with "stuff", all jam-packed in filling my time and space, even if I sit in a deluge of the Holy Spirit, it only affects me on the surface - I may get enough of His Living Water to 'get by', to keep me alive, but it never really changes me or reaches deep down into the roots of my being. I cannot thrive.
A concept about God that I have loved learning and thinking about in my studies is that He loves to create space for life and for relationship. Seeing the adverse way 'clutter' affected my garden confronts me again with my need to create space in all aspects of my life not only to grow but to thrive. I cannot afford to get overwhelmed with stuff that "looks good" or simply fills the spaces (or time!). Sometimes space can be awkward or seem bare (or even be a place where 'weeds' grow), but it is this space that enables me to receive all I need from God. I need to step out and take the risk of a lack of 'productivity' to create space for God to fill with the stuff He wants to grow in me!
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