We think of October as fall festival season, with pumpkins piled high, brightly colored leaves fluttering through the air, and scarves to keep our necks warm.
The summer flowers have bloomed their last, and the flowerbeds are barren. Even the birds have headed south, their whistling melodies taken with them. Soon the snow will blanket the world, and we will hunker down until spring arrives.
However, there is still October’s garden to prepare. Oh, this will not be a garden of winter’s flowers with brightly colored blooms. October’s garden will be there, patiently waiting, in order to offer us a spring delight. It is a labor of love that takes the whole winter to flower. We make a master plan, dig our holes, position next spring’s bulbs, and mulch them carefully. Deep in that dark hole, unseen to us, they will put out roots, reaching long fingers into the soil, preparing to thrust through to the warmth of the sun once the snows have gone.
We are those bulbs, and life is our garden. We must be planted, so that when Christ comes, bringing us a new spring, we can burst forth victorious in him. If we are not planted until spring, we miss the chance to become firmly rooted in him. It is in October’s Spring Garden that we are buried in him, that we may rise again, new and beautiful in him.
In Colossians 3:1-4 Paul gives us these planting tips for our October Spring Garden:
Planting Tip #1 – We must orient our planting areas toward the sun.
When bulbs are planted in the fall, we have to plan for their emergence in the spring. It is the sun’s warmth that triggers their new life.
Paul says it this way. If we wish to flower for Christ, we must orient ourselves toward him. Our renewing sunlight flows from the One who sits at the right hand of God.
Planting Tip #2 – The bulbs must be turned the correct direction.
A bulb is not a ping pong ball. There is a top and a bottom to a bulb. Plant it upside down, and it will try to grow, but it may wither before the shoots can reach the surface.
The same is true for the Christian. We are rooted in this world, but we must reach out to the Father above. When our eyes are on him, rather than on the world, we will find the source of our life shining down on us.
Planting Tip #3 – Cover the bulbs with plenty of soil.
If the bulbs are only partially buried, and the tops are left exposed to the winter weather, they will die. The storms of winter are too harsh for the tender life that is cocooned within. We must cover the bulbs with soil and mulch them for protection.
Our earthly man is not capable of reaching heaven without God’s help. We cannot live a good enough life, do enough charitable deeds, or write enough checks to make it to heaven. We must be covered with God, through Christ, who died for us on the cross. Christ is our soil, and the Spirit is our mulch, protecting us from life’s storms.
Planting Tip #4 – Expect a bountiful display of spring flowers.
The winter is long, but our expectations are high. We anticipate the melting snows, and we watch our beds for the first signs of green. We know what we have prepared, and although our flowerbeds look desolate and forlorn, we are filled with confidence. When spring arrives, our joy will be complete.
In Christ, the expectation of the Church is the same. Life is long, and we have been buried long. However, when Christ, who is the sunshine that brings us the warmth of life, bursts forth in that final day, we will rise with him in glory, beautiful and brilliant, just as he has planned all along.
When Jesus plants his followers in October’s Spring Garden, he plants them just where he needs them. Even though we may only see the darkness of everyday life covering us, Jesus knows what we will look like when we burst forth. He has a master plan.
When Jesus plants us, he knows what he’s doing. When he shines on us, we will bloom for him.
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