We're so pleased to have you among us in our worship service! If this is your first time here, the Congregational Church family and Pastor Ted Weis welcome the chance to know you. Please call on us if you have either a spiritual or material need.

"Life is Like a Garden"

by Pastor Ted Weis

Gardens. They are familiar summer sights. A garden is a well-attended, well-cared-for space where life thrives. Gardens are places of beauty, provision, and abundance. Gardens give us vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and nuts.

While enjoying biscuits and gravy at our monthly Food, Faith, and Fun event, we asked, "How is life like a garden?" Here are some of the responses:

"Things grow, bear fruit, and die."

"You should bloom where you're planted."

"Some weeds may not be noxious, but they're obnoxious."

"We must stay connected to the vine for nourishment, growth, and life (John 15)."

"You never quite know how it will turn out."

"You must feed it and water it to make it grow."

That's a great list!

If there's one truth I've learned from my limited gardening experience, it is this: Gardening, like life, requires constant, regular effort. If you don't put in the work of nurturing your plants, they won't produce.

Our spiritual life is much the same. If we neglect it, like a garden, it will wither and bear little fruit. But, if we tend to it regularly, it will blossom.

Here's the big take away for today: Your spiritual garden needs watering.

In our passage from Jeremiah 17, the prophet tells us that the one who trusts the Lord is blessed because they are like a tree planted by the water. A tree near water has a constant source of replenishment. When a person trusts the Lord, God is faithful to provide whatever is needed.

Our lives face constant challenges that turn our trust from God. We have our daily demands that keep us busy, like fixing a meal, going to work, or caring for kids. We have worries about finances or relationships, or health. These stresses, call them weeds or call them drought, if left untended, can cause our spirits to wither. We try to solve our problems in our own strength.

Take a moment now and talk to the Lord. What's troubling you today? Go the Lord today. Ask him to provide refreshment, provision, and strength. God is faithful. He will send his aid.

We know this because in a garden, known as Gethsemane, Jesus vowed to God, "not my will, but your will be done." Jesus committed himself to going to the cross. He died for our sins, for our unfaithfulness to trust him, like the sin committed in the Garden of Eden. On the third day, he rose again. Today, Jesus reigns. One day, he will establish a new heaven and new earth. From the throne, the book of Revelation tells us, will come a stream that waters the Tree of Everlasting Life.

God is faithful. May you be inspired to be faithful to him. Amen.

# 635 "In the Garden"