Devotion: Are You Planting a Garden of Good Intentions?
Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty! (Proverbs 14:23 NLT)
The daffodils are up in my yard, and I’m in full “I love spring” mode. Well aware that snow in April is always a potential dark horse around here, I appreciate every flower, bud, and branch I can smell and carry into the house—especially daffodils.
Every spring I look at the daffodils, decide we need more of them, and intend to plant more in the fall. Then autumn comes, and I might or might not remember that spring promise. If I do, I usually can’t remember where the daffodils we already have come up in the spring. I don’t know how many we need or where we need them. I didn’t order any in the spring when the catalogs came around, anyway, and the cheap ones in the stores now–well, who trusts them?
The daffodils don’t get planted.
The best of intentions never makes a good garden. You can’t smell the flowers, and you certainly can’t taste the tomatoes, of good intentions. Yet my springs are full of good intentions, and my falls are full of “I meant tos.” Fall is followed closely by the first snow of “next year.” This doesn’t happen entirely in the realm of flowers, does it?
“Humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:21–25 NLT).
God’s Word is powerful and beautiful—more beautiful than thousands of daffodils nodding above a bed of shamrock-green grass after a lifetime of winter. If we only savor his words, though—only love them for ourselves and our warm feelings when we hear them—don’t we run the risk of forgetting what they’re for?
Maybe sometimes God wants us to read his Word less and do what his Word says more.
I love reading verses that talk about living justly, stopping to help a stranger, or shining God’s light in dark places. Reading them, though, isn’t the point. Reading them doesn’t make darkness light any more than wanting more daffodils means I planted them.
I won’t reap the rewards of multiplied flowers unless I do the intentional work to get them. I need to sit down with the bulb catalogs and order what I want, not just circle what I like and think about maybe coming back to it later. I need to make decisions about where the flowers will go. I need to get out and dig in the dirt, put them in the ground when they arrive.
The next time I read Scripture and feel the Spirit’s tugging to do what I’m reading and not just love the sound of it, I need a similar attack. It can be the smallest of acts, but if I obey, that’s the point. I’ll research local organizations doing the work of justice if Isaiah 58 has spoken to me. I’ll pick one organization (it doesn’t have to be the perfect one) and email them. I’ll choose a place to start and do the first thing. (I’ve already done this and now volunteer here.) It’s not a lifetime commitment. It’s a start, in one small space, at being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.
Father, it’s easy to mean well and forget. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with our own intentions and everything that needs attention. Please forgive all the days I mean to do what you say in your Word but forget. Help me to hear your Spirit in your Word and not walk away. Guide me to the place I can make good on my intentions to be a doer of the Word. Help me to put my hand and not just my heart in your work. Amen.
Scripture for Reflection
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” (Colossians 3:23–24 NLT)
“Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.” (Isaiah 58:10–11 NLT)
Reach for More
What is the Lord saying to you in what you’re reading right now? Ask him to show you what he wants you to do with it. Then write down three concrete steps you can take to turn that hearing into doing and commit to pursuing one today. Don’t put it off until tomorrow! We know what happens. Don’t worry over which one is the best one. Just pick and do. That’s the first best step.
is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.
Photograph © Annie Spratt, used with permission
