MY YARD - THE CHURCH

The other day I was sitting on the deck and just quietly looked around. I saw a tree with dark red leaves. It is a beautiful tree that stands a bit off center. A really hard wind gave it quite a ride and it never went back to completely straight. I worry that the wind will take it someday and I would miss its red leaves.

I saw Bill’s garden. He loves to tend the plants and watch things grow.

I saw grass that should be green but is brown and dry because it needs a big drink. And I saw new flowers growing where old flowers used to bloom. There are also two urns that are old. Old in age and memories.

I saw our home. A place of work, rest and love. A place where we feed our souls and our bodies.

I saw a sky with clouds that look heavy with rain but clouds that are greedy and keep the rain.

Then it dawned on me that I had just seen the church.

SCRIPTURE: JEREMIAH 29:12

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

====================

Hello Lord, as I sat here, I realized the church is like my backyard. The church has many people like the tree. They do not stand straight and tall because they have been blown around by life. Lord, help all stay rooted strongly in your Word so we will not be blown over.

The church is also a garden full of people who need cultivated and weeded so we can bloom and grow. Lord, may the church tend and watch over all who enter so they may grow in faith.

The church is like the grass; we need watered. Watered with the living water you - and only you - can give.

Lord, the church is like the new flowers too. Those that have gone before have left a strong legacy and a firm foundation for us to stand on and grow deep roots of our own.

And the church’s “urns” old in age and memories are the elders who teach and guide us. Their memories and knowledge can be building stones of faith.

Lord, I pray the church will always be a welcoming home where people come to work, rest, love and a place where our souls and bodies are fed.

The clouds held onto their rain, but I pray no one in the church is ever greedy and selfish enough to keep the Word for only themselves.

All this I pray for the church, in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Amen