Workmanship

While progress on the house has stalled, we've been turning our attention to the garden. This weekend we rented a small Mantis rototiller and got busy turning up the soil of all the garden and landscaping beds in the yard. Then we raked out the roots and weeds, adding fresh garden soil and a LOT of Preen in an attempt to keep the weeds at bay.

As you may recall, I inherited a garden that had gone to weed. And not just any weed...poky, prickly thistle that was nearly five feet tall by the time I got to it. It took the entire summer just to get control of the garden that had gone wild.

Hiding under all of those weeds were these poor neglected rose bushes. Four Knockout rose bushes, planted in a row in the back corner. When I pulled away the weeds and exposed them to the light, they thanked me with a profusion of blooms.

We are far from done with the garden work. This week, I am ordering a truck load of mulch, and then the back breaking job of spreading will begin. We've also decided to take advantage of the mild weather and plant some shrubs and trees this fall.

I can see the progress, finally. And with every weed I pull, I remind myself of the motto that has propelled me forward with this house.

"We make things beautiful."

It is so much work, and it usually results in Advil and a heating pad at the end of every work day. But in the end, we just want to make things beautiful.

It got me thinking this morning about the work that God has done and continues to do in me.

He's had to transplant me on multiple occasions. He's had to till a lot of soil and remove a lot of weeds.

And with fertilizer, rain, and sunshine, He's had to wait patiently for me to bloom. His work is never done, as there are still a lot of weeds to pull and a lot of pruning that needs to get accomplished.

The NIV translation has this to say: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

But I really loved this translation today from the ESV:

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:10

The NIV has us doing, and the ESV has God doing, with us merely walking in what God has already done. I love that.

His workmanship. Today, I will try to remember it and walk where He has prepared for me to go.