When we had our house built a few years back, we included an apartment in the daylight basement. We’ve had a variety of tenants, mostly students or recent graduates from the nearby university. So far we’ve not had any problems, and things have gone well.
Our current tenant, a young nurse, asked permission to get some large planters to put alongside her parking space so she could grow some flowers and a few vegetables. We gladly gave our permission, and soon there were a half dozen or so planters, each with its own special crop. One holds cucumbers, another has a tomato plant and there is one with a couple of pepper plants. Then there is one with marigolds and some impatiens. One planter had summer squash, and another had petunias. I say had, because they don’t any more.
A few weeks back, while mowing the lawn, I looked closer at the planters. Other than the cucumbers needing water (which I took care of), most of the plants looked healthy. Except, of course, for the squash and petunias. I noticed that the soil around the squash was quite wet. The petunias were almost swimming. There seemed to be as much water in the planter as there was soil.
Yesterday I saw
our tenant, and asked how her garden was doing. She smiled as she told me of the seven cukes and two tomatoes she’d harvested. Then I asked if her planters had drain holes (I’d seen similar planters at a local store, and didn’t remember seeing a way for excess water to drain out). She said that they did have holes; she’d had them drilled. Then I asked about the two water-logged planters, and she admitted that, apparently the drain holes had become clogged somehow, and that she was going to have to fix that and replant.
In a way, our spiritual lives are like those planters. We can receive the “water” from the Holy Spirit, but if we don’t have an outlet, it doesn’t do us any good. We must pass on what we receive. In the last part of Matt 10:8, Christ told His disciples, “Freely you have received, freely give.” We are to be a conduit of the Lord’s mercy, not a storehouse. His love does no good if we try to bottle it up inside of ourselves. Let it flow out; let it water other hearts.
Water-logged petunias aren’t a pleasant sight for anyone. So much so that I couldn't even find a picture of any on the Internet.
Dr. G
Our current tenant, a young nurse, asked permission to get some large planters to put alongside her parking space so she could grow some flowers and a few vegetables. We gladly gave our permission, and soon there were a half dozen or so planters, each with its own special crop. One holds cucumbers, another has a tomato plant and there is one with a couple of pepper plants. Then there is one with marigolds and some impatiens. One planter had summer squash, and another had petunias. I say had, because they don’t any more.
A few weeks back, while mowing the lawn, I looked closer at the planters. Other than the cucumbers needing water (which I took care of), most of the plants looked healthy. Except, of course, for the squash and petunias. I noticed that the soil around the squash was quite wet. The petunias were almost swimming. There seemed to be as much water in the planter as there was soil.
Yesterday I saw
our tenant, and asked how her garden was doing. She smiled as she told me of the seven cukes and two tomatoes she’d harvested. Then I asked if her planters had drain holes (I’d seen similar planters at a local store, and didn’t remember seeing a way for excess water to drain out). She said that they did have holes; she’d had them drilled. Then I asked about the two water-logged planters, and she admitted that, apparently the drain holes had become clogged somehow, and that she was going to have to fix that and replant.In a way, our spiritual lives are like those planters. We can receive the “water” from the Holy Spirit, but if we don’t have an outlet, it doesn’t do us any good. We must pass on what we receive. In the last part of Matt 10:8, Christ told His disciples, “Freely you have received, freely give.” We are to be a conduit of the Lord’s mercy, not a storehouse. His love does no good if we try to bottle it up inside of ourselves. Let it flow out; let it water other hearts.
Water-logged petunias aren’t a pleasant sight for anyone. So much so that I couldn't even find a picture of any on the Internet.
Dr. G
