Motivate Me Monday ~ Tending Our Garden

Back to Motivate Me Monday - trying to get back on track after Christmas! Stop by Sarah Mae's place to read more motivating posts.

I was recently struck by something I read in my devotional - here's part of an entry by Jonathan Edwards:

"In other words, holiness makes the soul like a field or garden of God, with every kind of pleasant fruit and flower, and each one delightful and undisturbed, enjoying a sweet calm and the gentle and refreshing rays of the sun."

I love the imagery of this and it ties in so nicely with rising early in the morning when the sun's rays are first appearing and shining into our window. When we spend this time in the Word, the sun begins to shine into the garden of our soul - bringing back to life the sleeping fruits and flowers of faithfulness, joy, and love, and making clear to us the weeds of sin that grew in the darkness so that we can tend our garden.

I love to see sunshine in the morning - it makes me feel refreshed and renewed. I know that the garden of my soul needs a lot of tending and I can only see to work in it if the light of God's Word shines in. My garden needs to be refreshed and renewed every day!

Isaiah 61:11

For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

I hope you feel motivated to rise early this week and let the sun shine in so you can tend to your garden!