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There’s a certain spot in my yard that would be a great location for a garden. But there’s an issue. You see, the owners before us had an above ground pool installed in our backyard. Our backyard is a hill so the installers had to make a level space for the pool. They dug into the hill far enough that they removed a lot of clay along with the soil. Instead of having nutrient rich top soil that would be great for planting, I have an uphill battle trying to get something to grow in the clay. With some extra effort in 2020, I was able to get some carrots.
Granted, I had planted a variety of tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkins, and many other things. Also, my carrots were not even large enough to be considered baby carrots, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and apparently, neither will my garden.
I’ve heard that things like ash help add nutrients to the soil, and eggshells and coffee grounds may draw much-needed earthworms. So I’ve saved ashes and will start gathering coffee grounds and shells. This could be my year!
After the poor garden production in 2020, I was a bit deflated and didn’t do anything last year. Do many of you respond to disappointment as I sometimes do, reducing our efforts toward achieving our goals? I allowed the space to get overgrown with weeds and many grew taller than me (at least something can grow there!). All year I avoided that spot except for mowing around it and placing dead limbs in the middle of it to burn.
My neighbors must have loved driving by and seeing the mess it became and has been most years. In the fall, I mowed down the dead weeds, burned piles of wood and leaves, and did a bit of leveling out the dirt. To make it into something greater this year my preparation efforts must increase soon, or better yet right now.
Life is full of opportunities that need our preparation. Perhaps you’re preparing for a move or home remodel. Maybe you have a presentation you’re preparing for work or even freshening up your resume in hopes of getting a new job, or possibly you’re preparing to be parents for the first time. If you’ve spent any time in the Word, you don’t get far along before you see how God asked or moved people into tasks and situations of preparation. Consider Noah, scholars think it took him somewhere around 100-120 years to build the ark (might be how long it takes me to have a nice garden).
Joseph, sold into slavery at 17 years old, placed over the land of Egypt at 30 years old. Look at the care that was given to prepare for the Passover, the preparations Solomon made to build the temple in 1 Kings, John the Baptist fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah in preparing the way for the Lord. For us, we are in a season where we must remain prepared for the 2nd coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
"The world is fighting for your family’s attention, fighting to give them something other than the Lord to worship."
Preparation is Work Worth Pursuing
This preparation is work. But it’s work worth pursuing. Many of you gave testimony to a kind of work worth pursuing during our Advent series last year. Couples, families, and people of all ages throughout Wildwood gathered each day for a time of devotions, singing, and prayer. If you’re like me and have some younger kids in the home, man that was work that came with some disappointments as my boys would get restless.
Over time though my kids started requesting it and would help prepare by getting the devotional book and lighter for the candles. My youngest would even grab his own bible and make us help him get on the correct page even though he’s too young to read. Some evenings we’d sit together and sing a number of great Christmas hymns and carols. When Wildwood gathered for church services, I also noticed this advent season had an energy, anticipation, and sweetness to it that was noticeable from the platform. Families were prepared to worship because family worship was happening at home.
Those Advent family worship devotionals were just designed to be used in conjunction with that short sermon series. For many families, that may have encouraged you to at least try having devotions because there was an end date in sight. Some nights as my kids were acting up, I was looking forward to that end! Now that we’re over two months since Advent ended, has family worship also ended in your home?
Were there some moments of disappointment for you in your family devotion time that discouraged you from continuing? Have you set any goals for your own spiritual growth this year and the growth of your family? Easter is just around the corner, are you preparing yourself and your family to worship the Risen King?
We Must Press On
My garden, or lack thereof, has been a good lesson for me concerning unintended consequences. Putting forth no effort last year didn’t just yield nothing, it produced worthless weeds that were ugly, grew very tall, and had seeds that stuck to your clothes. A lack of time spent doing devotions individually and as a family won’t just lead to nothing. The world is fighting for your family’s attention, fighting to give them something other than the Lord to worship. It’s doing the same to us. If you’re struggling to get going again, consider these words from Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” The inheritance will come, but until that day we must press on with our work.
As I was wrapping up from the Night to Shine event a few Friday evenings ago, I was listening to Moody radio and had the privilege of hearing a message from Chuck Swindoll. In his message, he was encouraging his congregation to keep pressing on towards integrity. What struck me most was how he defined the phrase “press on”. He said to press on means:
- You rid your life of distractions
- You spend your time and energy on essentials
- You set your mind to endure any test, any trial
- You focus your attention on goals and priorities as set forth in the scriptures
- You discipline yourself to stay at it in order to finish well
The Fruit of Our Labor
The irony of me trying to grow a garden is that I don’t even like vegetables that much, but I don’t have a yard suitable for growing cows, or cocoa trees and sugar cane. Part of my goal with the garden is to make something usable out of something that is otherwise worthless. Hopefully, after some success, I’ll enjoy tasting the fruit of my labor, which just also happens to be beneficial to my body.
Consider the much greater fruit of the labor of consistent family worship. You work towards producing strong followers and worshippers of the King who are secure in their salvation. This labor increases the worship gathering as more believers gather in awe and appreciation of all God has done. I look forward to Easter morning with you all. We’ve been working hard as a staff to make preparations for a great week. Our celebration will be especially sweet as all of us prepare together through our family worship. When Easter Sunday comes to a close, I hope you will press on with family worship, Wildwood.
http://dearmckenzie.com/tag/friends/ To learn more about Family Worship, click the button below:
Executive & Worship Pastor, Andrew Robinson
Andrew was born and raised in the Quad Cities and has been on staff at Wildwood since 2014. He is blessed to have his wife, Gretchen, and loves being a father to their four kids. Andrew enjoys watching and participating in sports (go Bears!), and has performed vocally all over the nation.
