evil enters my garden

So here's my garden, planted, mulched, watered, growing. It's my little piece of Eden, perfection, God's presence. But . . . . . . . . . oh no! . . . . . . . evil has invaded! Dun-dun-dunnnnn (ominous music). I noticed black fuzzy spots of fungus on the rose bush and pesky whitefly eggs on some leaves. And some pansies are wilting: am I overwatering or underwatering? Drat . . . This means I can't just sit back and lazily enjoy the garden.

I have to work at maintaining it! What a disappointment! I just wanted to relax and gaze at the flowers. Now I have to do more work to get rid of them or control them. I have to be wary, swat down those whiteflies, remove the diseased leaves, spray, and check, and be more careful when I water. #!%$@! (angry thoughts)! the garden is not going to take care of itself.

Are all kinds of analogies going thru your mind like they are in mine? It makes me think of sin entering the perfect life of Adam and Eve. Or the kingdom of darkness invading the kingdom of God. Or the new Christian finding out that you still sin and spiritual growth is not automatic. Or the church realizing that wrong attitudes have gotten in among the godly desires.

I want a church that takes care of itself. Where I can just come and relax and enjoy the worship and the fellowship. Actually, I want a life like that, where I can just do my thing and be happy. I don't want to deal with problems, and to struggle and stress.

But as I sat with Jesus this morning in my garden, He gave me a picture of us walking together, arm in arm. Jesus pointed out where my attention was needed and told me what to do and I bent down and did it and then resumed our walk. It wasn't stressful at all, very peaceful walking with him. He took charge, I just walked with him and followed his directions.

Could that really happen in my life? I don't know. I've been praying that God would grow me as a leader. Maybe I need to pray that I become a better follower . . . following Him.