NOW I have never been much of a gardener, though I can appreciate what makes an attractive garden.

I was looking just this week at pictures sent to me of a lovely garden which didn’t come about by magic but by regular and hard work by the householders.

In fact, this weekend I am needing to put to rights my own back garden which has been neglected for a little while, and this is the time of year where weeds, never mind the grass, grow like billy-o. So, with the help of a friend, we hope to make a dent in what is needed to bring the garden back towards what it should be.

It can be true of our own lives too, when we neglect things, and they can take a turn for the worse. Weeds often remind me of little bits of wrongdoing which can blight our lives and spoil our characters and make us not what I believe God intended us to be. And just like an untended garden, it can soon run out of control and become a wilderness without any redeeming features. So, some regular hard work needs to happen, and not just this weekend.

God’s Holy Spirit has promised to be with us, indeed within us, and one of His tasks with our help is to keep us pure, clean and ready for all that He has for us. We need to work at this as well, and as we live closer to God, His voice and instructions to us become easier to hear.

Not only does God want to keep us clean, He wants His life and His power within us to make us strong for others. To be the difference in their lives. He will put His power within us to help us fulfil His calling on our lives and to bring His love and His life to those round us and beyond.

I have said before I hold a little equation dear to my heart. It is that desperation equals response and the more desperate we are to hear from God and ask Him to make a difference in our lives, the easier it becomes to hear His voice speaking into our hearts.

God delights to hear us call out to Him. And there is nothing better when His presence and His peace comes to us.