GARDEN LESSONS: ARE YOU IN THE WRONG SPOT?
When working in the garden I will often notice a flower growing in the wrong location. For years it was the yarrow plant for me, and each spring as I began clearing the path that ran along the side of the house I would notice this flower, and it was perfect. It was straight, healthy, and had blossoms on it already, but it was dead center in the middle of my path. The exact wrong place for it to be in this particular garden area.
Many times I would attempt to relocate the flower, but its roots were deep and my attempts to move it to where it was supposed to be was painful – even to the point of the flower dying. I would think if only the flower’s seed had just blown a few feet moreover …
RESISTANT TO HIS GENTLE GUIDANCE
I think how often are we like that flower? How often do we settle deep roots in the exact wrong location in God’s garden? How often are we so resistant to His gentle guidance to the right location that we experience pain and destruction in our lives?
How often do we stand “perfectly” and argue that God still loves us despite our resistance to go or do what He wants us to do? We think for some reason God has given us the okay to do as we please (worship, amusements, music, literature, education, health, and so forth) and that He is pleased because we felt an ’emotion.’ However, it is not okay. We could be the most beautiful flower in the garden, thinking we are right where we are to be, but growing up in the center of a path will lead only to pain as the Gardener, gentle as He is, tries to uproot us and put us back where we belong.
The deeper our roots go in those things that are not pleasing to the Gardener, the more chance we have for death. Many times my yarrow plants did not survive being moved. Will you?
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Julie
Julie Smith is the Education Director for the Joseph Smith Foundation. She is the former owner of the Glenn J. Kimber Academy in Lehi, Utah. Julie served as a regional trainer—establishing 18 schools in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. She is a certified teacher for The Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Restoration (TJC) and taught the Making of America seminars written by W. Cleon Skousen and Glenn J. Kimber. Some of her children also traveled across the nation, assisting in teaching during these seminars. Julie taught history and Book of Mormon classes for 10 years. Julie is the mother of 5 children and grandmother to 7. She homeschooled for over 27 years, working through family challenges including pornography addiction, testimony faith crises, and teenage rebellion. She writes and teaches on strengthening the family, working with troubled youth, practically applying the teachings of scripture and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and celebrating higher standards. In her spare time, Julie also enjoys gardening, managing her .5-acre homestead, and hosting Sunday dinners with her family! Her home is a revolving door of guests and friends as her family hosts cultural celebrations and teaching events.
