A Garden of Friends

The Friendships in our lives are like a garden…

First we have to prepare the soil...pull weeds, amend the soil with the appropriate nutrients, and cultivate the soil (work it in). When we are preparing the soil… we are preparing our hearts for friendship… becoming transparent with the Lord, confessing our sins and Praying for the Lord to bring into our lives and show us who we should pursue as friends. Just as it can be painful work weeding a large garden, it can be painful allowing God to change you. He may have to pull weeds and till the soil.

Picking your plants comes next. This is were we pray for God to bring those friends into our lives. When we are ready and they are ready. God provides the friends, but we have the choice to accept those friends into our lives. Some friends are like annuals; they only stay for a season. The friendships can be just as beautiful and have just as significant a purpose as that of a friendship more like a perennial. All friendships make marks on our lives. Some make significant marks in a short period of time and then they are gone. They may move away and not communicate again, but there was a purpose for their friendship. They contribute to making your garden more extravagant.

Some friendships are like perennials...

that stay for a lifetime (not always, but usually). You may not see them all seasons but they always come back. Even though there are dormant seasons to a perennials life cycle. To keep your perennials alive you have to tend your garden. You have to water them and protect them from critters. Most definitely there will be weeding. Watering and tending your garden can be time consuming, yes but it is so enjoyable and rewarding. With friendships the watering is time spent together. To keep a friendship alive you have to invest your most precious commodity... your time.
These friendships are also called kindred spirits. Women you can connect deeply with and even though you don't see each other that often. When you do it is a beautiful reunion of souls. You know them well because you have been through many seasons together. You have been the constant accepting friend in tough times, the listening ear for one another when your heart's have ached, the watchman on the wall, praying for your dear friend. You have enjoyed one another's company even if it was "only a cup of tea." These are the true friends you experience true "Koinonia" Fellowship with. You can sharpen one another "As iron sharpens iron." (Prov.27:17) Sharpening can be a painful experience, but when you have a humble heart, the Lord blesses you with His wisdom.

The Fruitfulness of friendship fully deepens on effort. Hebrews 10:24 says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together...but let us encourage one another." Sometimes the effort includes carrying each others burdens. Galatians 6:2 "Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

Overall, God blesses us with both kinds of friends in our lifetime. Friends who come and go in your life, leaving a mark in your heart, helping you to become who you are, and sometimes the friends are like kindred spirits, perennials that are lifelong friends. We need both in our lives, but it all starts with preparing our hearts (preparing the soil).

I recently read a book called "A Garden of Friends" and though she talks in lengthy detail about different kinds of plants in your garden of friends (ie;geraniums, tulips, roses, etc...)the Lord just spoke this special message into my heart about the meaning behind them all. True Fellowship! To experience true fellowship with our God we have to be just as transparent with our fellow man. There is purpose behind all of the friendships she discusses, but the journey lies in the preparation, tending and watering the garden not necessarily what type of plant it is. This journey with the Lord is so refreshing. To be in the word, reading others insights and what they have learned in order to glean wisdom. Then out of no where God speaks something so significant into your heart something in a picture that maybe only you can understand. For me this picture of caring for a garden is so beautiful! Praise be to Out Lord Jesus Christ!