SHAPED TO SERVE!

How does one enter his/her golden years and beyond as a servant of the LORD? I have found that service isn't self-service! Wisdom not only gained from age but even from a child can be valuable.

Mine came from a 3 1/2 year old princess on our street. (1/2 emphasis is hers!

She can bring dandelions or some colorful leaves to my porch. Occasionally, it can be a flower that has fallen to the ground.They are always given with a smile. I try to have a small receptacle ready; she loves the splash of water as she "stuffs" them in.

Flowers are sparse these days and our 34° temp didn't help. But God used a nudge from the Holy Spirit to have me pick some that had fallen in case she comes by today. I even found the perfect container!

My "Shaped to Serve" vase is eensy but perfect to hold a few straggly flowers. It's a bit cold for me to porch sit but I have it in the window in case she "skips" by. If not, I know where she lives!

There was even a verse in the box with it---"just for me"! 

O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

A reminder that even things I am finding only recently after out sudden and tumultuous move, can speak God's wisdom to my heart. 

I am not a horticulturist and will never be a Master Gardener but.......

I am grateful for dandelions from a 3 yr. old! Oops 3 1/2!

CHOOSE: HODGE PODGE

Some choices are  more of a defeat or...on a more positive note, an acceptance.

Such is the way with my "garden" and I do use the term loosely.

Living between "master gardeners" could be intimidating. In fact, it is only my thinking that drags me down that lane. They never do.

They're always encouraging but I'm sure it's difficult for them to imagine my interest in a printed page, even about gardening, greater than my desire to put gardening into practice.

Possibly because that's when my ineptness is front and center.
Think random placement. Harem-scarem. Hodge-podge. Jumble. I would put eclectic but I think that only pertains to furniture/ decor! Certainly not a pastiche of neighboring gardens. 

Just patio pots with my small garden of phlox, praying hands, lenten roses and Solomon seal as a backdrop.

Comparison is the "Thief of joy." (T. Roosevelt) ...or as Lo says, "If you compare, our despair."

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each should carry their own load. (Galatians 6:4-5)