MY GARDEN NEEDS WEEDING

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the production of JONAH at Sight and Sound. Now, I must admit that while I have seen many of the shows there, I was especially interested to see this one because I wanted to know "how are they going to do the whale?" My interest in hearing the story of Jonah (after all, how many times have I heard that story dating all the way back to my Sunday School days - and believe me - that was a really long time ago) was not nearly as great as my interest in THE WHALE. How are they going to show Jonah in the belly of the great fish, the boat being pummeled by the storm, etc., etc.

But what I discovered was that as I reflected on the day, I found myself thinking about how much truth the developers of the show got out of that tiny book. Things that I had read or heard before but presented in a way that made me think of them differently. At one point in the show, one of the characters says something like, "selfishness and pride are like weeds that never stop growing and I guess that Jonah just got tired of pulling them out." Jonah allowed his pride to provide the fertile "soil" to allow the anger and bitterness and selfishness in his heart to take strong root and keep growing. At some point it became easier to just let the weeds grow up than to ask God to give him the resolve to help him overcome.

Trust me - I get the tired-of-pulling-out-weeds part. I don't have a big yard, but the small flower beds that I do have give me great pleasure. I have my favorite (and the deer's) flowers planted - lillies - and truly enjoy seeing them for the two days they bloom before the deer come to my yard, or as they know it, the salad bar. Why the dopey deer eat the flowers and leave the weeds is beyond me (maybe they aren't so dopey after all). But they do, so I am left to pull out the weeds. And it seems that while the blooms on the flowers fade (or are eaten) the weeds just grow and grow.

And so it is with the weeds of pride and selfishness in my life. They just seem to grow and the more I try to uproot them, the more they grow. Some days it is so hard to beat back my pride that it just seems easier to ignore it and hope that maybe it will go away. Hint - it never does. At least it never does on its own. It is only by constantly asking God to keep reminding me that I have NOTHING to be proud about. All I have, all I am, is because of His great love for me and because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for me.

As we have just gone through the Easter season, I pray that my focus will not be on me - not on what I want or what I do or who I think I am - but on Who He is -- our awesome Father -- and on His Son, Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. . ." (Titus 3:5-6).

"To God be the glory, great things He hath done"

Lynn Randall

Lynn is the Director of Human Resources at America's KESWICK. She is active in her church and is a gifted planner and organizer. She has a real heart for people as evidenced by her care, concern and practical encouragement.

May is fast approaching and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.

ONE. WALK - call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter's team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?