The day
of the tour...
Somewhere
in Hell...
"Quiet!
We need to get this emergency meeting underway; time is of the essence!! As you
all know, our patient's garden show is today, and what promised to be an easy
opportunity to influence SQ in a negative way is slipping through our fingers.
To say it plainly, our goody two-shoes opponents are whipping our butts.
However, we still have an ace up our sleeve. Everybody welcome, Discontent."
"Good
morning. My name is Discontent and I am accustomed to being used as the last
ditch effort to sink a human. This week as our client, SQ, walked through her
garden surveying it prior to the tour, I planted a deep seed of myself. I
flooded her with a desire to run straight to O'Neal's garden center and buy
hanging baskets she couldn't afford, perennials she didn't have room for, and
annuals she couldn't take care of. I caused her to dream of whimsical topiaries
and exotic tropicals. I made gardening magazines arrive in her mailbox that
were filled with such gorgeous pictures, that she wanted to burn her efforts to
the ground and start over. I filled her with pure covetousness! I gave it my
best effort, but the enemy was lying in wait and routed me out before I knew
what hit me. I am afraid we have lost the battle."
"No!!
How did they do it? What technique did they use?"
"I
have no idea...."
Somewhere
in Heaven...
"Settle down!! Congratulations are in order, but first we need to hear from Contentment as he explains how he saved the day and our patient. But first, let's open with prayer...
Dearest Lord, we praise your name today! We were losing a battle
for one of your beloved children. She was falling victim to the enemies'
efforts, but You swooped in with your power and mercy and saved the day! Thank
you for always believing in us, and help us do a better job of believing in
you. Amen.
OK,
Contentment, you have the floor."
"Good
morning! It was touch and go during this last week. Our patient was hit with a
terrible case of discontent right at the end. She was almost consumed by a need
to do more, have more, be more!!!! But I was able to chase away discontent's
deceit with my friend, Truth. We reminded SQ of what she
had learned about the strapping on the Belt of Truth. Pricilla Shirer
teaches that "The over-arching principle present in all of Satan's attacks
toward us is deception. He propagates fantasies, causing temporal and insignificant
things to somehow appear immensely valuable and favorable." We showed SQ
that the truth about her garden could be found in memories- memories of her and her
husband, James, building the fence, of her parents and sister laying the little
patio, of her niece's fairy garden, and her nephew sitting in the chicken coop
that her dad built. Those memories were the truth that made her garden all that
it needed to be.
I
admonished her with Galatians 1:10...
Am I
now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying
to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a
servant of Christ.
And I encouraged her with Hebrews
13:5…
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such
things that you have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee or forsake
thee.
Then I gave her a good night's sleep and she
woke up this morning full of joy for the privilege of sharing with her friends
the garden God has blessed her with; her thin place where He is near.”
“Great job, Contentment! Once again Heaven gathers the troops- Peace,
Submission,
Humility,
Contentment,
and Truth
– to support their beloved children. And even with those traits, it is only
with God’s grace and faithfulness that we prevail.
Well, you all deserve some time off, but unfortunately
we know that our patient will be needing help again. Maybe next time it will be
Honesty,
Kindness,
Love,
or Patience
that will be called upon to save her. In the mean time someone be sure there
are NO MORE garden tours!!”
;-)
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