Blessed Are the Gardeners

I am impatient by nature.  

My prayers tend to have at their heart the theme of ‘my time, God, not Yours.’ 

I am impatient.  But I once received some very wise advice from a lovely gentleman in Scotland, where I lived and worked for a year. 

Tending the church’s garden one day, Arthur stopped his work to tell me something important, something I did not fully appreciate at the time: shepherds and their dogs follow the flock rather than lead it.  The shepherd and the dog have to be in the back to watch out for strays, to help keep the flock together, Arthur pointed out.  Their pace is dictated by the slowest sheep.

I tend to want to charge ahead, only seldom checking to see if anyone is following, to hurry, to be impatient with the flock, which by its very nature, slows each other down.  

But maybe slowing each other down is part of what we do for each other rather than to each other when we come together as church.  

Jesus has sent me many gardeners with much wisdom to share.  I can’t wait to see what they have to teach me.

There’s that impatience again!

Blessed are the gardeners, for they shall know God’s time.  Amen.