Cultivate

You don’t have to be a gardener to enjoy what’s blooming in Minnesota in June. The sights and smells of flowers or gardens in bloom lift the spirit after harsh winters. I’m not a gardener, but I marvel at those who are. They love to get their hands dirty in the soil, carefully tending to their vulnerable seeds. With dedication, consistency, and often, at great cost, they nourish their plants, dutifully watching weather reports to ensure their garden gets the right amount of nourishing water and sun. They devise schemes to trap predators like squirrels, rabbits, and deer who pose threats to their gardens. After several weeks, their patience and care are rewarded: there are juicy fruits to enjoy, vegetables to chop for salads, and flowers that cause passersby to stop and pause, and breathe in the beauty.
                 
We each have a garden of our own to tend: a relationship with the Creator of All, who loves us and wants to see good fruit grown in our lives - fruits of sincere love, patient trust, joyful delight in God’s gifts, and purpose and meaning to our days. Those of us who have put our trust in Jesus have embarked on a lifelong journey of faith, where we seek to grow in ever-deepening trust, love, and hope in the abundant life Jesus offers. We are, in fact, in a personal relationship with God. This is sheer gift.
                  
But like any relationship, we must nourish it in order to see it grow. Like gardeners, we can’t force growth to happen and yet it surely will not happen if we don’t tend to those frail seeds, nourish the roots, give them time to grow, and be vigilant against potential enemies.  
                  
If you want to see fruit develop in your own life - if you’re interested in seeing your relationship with God grow, join us this June for our series Cultivate.

I Could Use Some Help With...

The oldest book in the Bible was compiled some 3,400 years ago. And the final book, Revelation, was written in the last decade of the first century. That makes the Bible a very old book. Yet it has proven to be remarkably relevant. But of course we live in a very different world than did Abraham, David, Jeremiah and Jesus. We face challenges these ancient people could never have imagined. It makes us wish God would give us just one more book, one that offers help in, among other things, managing our time, being wise about technology, coping with loneliness and understanding mental illness. During the month of May, we’re going to examine each of these topic, looking not to the culture, but to Bible, with the goal of uncovering timeless wisdom for today.  

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