Pastor's Corner

A WORD FROM PASTOR

Bedding plants, Christian growth and Lent. They are not as dissimilar as you might think.

According to reliable gardening experts, new bedding plants need some rough treatment at planting time. The best thing you can do when planting tomatoes, petunias and other bedding plants is disturb their roots. If a plant has been growing in its pot so long that the roots are circling the bottom of the pot, you need to jab your finger into the bottom of the soil and pry apart the tangle of roots.

If the whole pot is filled with circling roots, you need to be merciless. Breaking some of the roots is far better than allowing the roots to continue to circle when the plant grows in the garden. Most bedding plants shrug off this tough treatment and actually thrive because of it.

Christians often resemble root bound plants. We grow complacent and comfortable where we are. Our roots circle around and around in the same small area, no longer reaching out for life and nourishment and growth. The healthiest thing God can do for us is shake up our roots and put us in new soil.

Lent can often be a time when God shakes up our rooting system. During the season of Lent, we Christians are to seek a change of heart in our relationship with God. Lent is a season of preparation for celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and in so doing our hearts are stirred and some times disturbed. Lent is a time when God is preparing us for something big.

This Lent I invite you to let God shake up your roots and shake up your world. Consider penitential works of abstinence, fasting, prayer and charitable works. Consider taking on new disciplines and casting off old habits. Let God poke around and break off what is no longer desirable. I know that in the process, we will thrive as we grow into a deeper relationship with God.

"The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail." (Isaiah 58:11)

Peace, Pastor John