The weather here in Toronto has certainly been very strange - super cold and snowing one day, even colder but clear another,and then it's supposed to be 20 on Thursday! Wow. Spring is certainly on the way and I absolutely love T.O. in the spring - the way everything comes back to life, colour abounds, the birds start their chorus... beautiful.
With that comes the responsibility of getting the garden back in order. Our front yard in particular is a mess, because in the late fall, the city replaced all of the lead water pipes and pretty much destroyed our garden in the process (we'll see how survived and comes up in a few weeks).
I often refer to gardening as a really helpful analogy when we think about leadership in a church context. There's an element where we have responsibility - preparing the ground, ensuring there's enough nutrients, making sure the garden is laid out in the correct way so everything gets the right amount of sun, pruning and weeding... However there's only so much we can do - the rest requires us to sit back, be patient and allow the growth to happen naturally.
In our leadership roles, there's definitely work to be done - preparing the ground (setting good foundations), ensuring there's enough nutrients (teaching, discipling relationships, resourcing), making sure things are laid out correctly (the right people in the right roles, good structure), pruning and weeding (working through issues, helping people address sin in their lives, dealing with conflict). In the end, though, it's up to God to do the work in people's lives - the organic growth that only God can do.
One of my favourite verses is the Message translation of James 1:21:
In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
What is the current state of my garden?
During this season, what work do I need to do to prepare for more growth?
In my sphere of influence, how much am I responsible for? What do I need to leave with God?
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