At the end of town there was an abandoned house. At one time it belonged to a modest man who earned an honest living and was able to support his family comfortably. There he spent many happy days with his wife and three daughters. His wife loved to plant flowers and had made a beautiful garden around the house. Many people would pass by to admire her garden. The white fence complemented the wide variety of flowers and colours in her garden. The girls happily played in the large yard.
As time went on, the daughters grew up, got married and moved far away, visiting occasionally on holidays.
For many years the man and his wife remained in the house and the wife continued to keep her garden, well into their retirement years.
Time, however, does not stand still and as the couple aged, the man passed into the grave before his beloved wife. Although she grieved, she found comfort in her Bible. The Lord was with her and she held onto the heavenly hope that she would see her beloved husband once again. She would pray often and attend church every Sabbath as much as possible, until she became too weak to do so.
Slowly her garden began to have less and less flowers. Soon it was only those that grew up from the previous years that reseeded themselves. The lawn was also neglected. The house repairs were not done. She had no strength or money to keep the place in a very good condition. Her daughters were far away and were not able to travel to help. And when they visited, they did not stay long. Soon it was time for the dear woman to join her husband in the grave, waiting for Jesus to return to reunite them once again.
Now, the lot was filled with weeds, rocks, and broken glass. The daughters were unable to sell it in this condition and could not repair it. Soon a few people in town began dumping their trash in the old lot. The dilapidated house sat right in the middle of the grounds. The windows had been broken out years ago. The house had found new tenants. It was filled with rats and mice and other creeping things. People went out of their way to avoid this spot. It was hopeless. The only thing that could fix this lot was a bulldozer.
One beautiful spring morning, a fine looking business woman walked by the old lot. The weeds were now waist high and flies were buzzing around the trash. The poor house looked sadder than it ever had. The woman paused, then began to walk around the outside of the lot. A few of the townsfolk watched as she took down several pages of notes, then quickly walked away.
Word spread quickly throughout the town that the woman worked for the district and was going to demand the city clean up the lot, bulldoze the house to the ground, and plow it under. It is an eyesore and a health hazard now that it had become a dumping ground.
This is what they were thinking and they would have to agree with her. After all, the abandoned lot gave the whole town a bad reputation. It did not matter if it would be very costly to clean it up, the city would just have to find the money from somewhere. “It just wasn’t right having a messy looking place like that in our town,” the people would say. “Someone had to do something, since the daughters have left it to grow wild after the passing of their parents.”
Several days later the woman walked into City Hall. The clerk behind the desk was a little nervous, knowing that the city did not have the money that it would take to clean up the lot.
She walked up to the desk, pulled out her notes and said something the clerk would never forget. She asked, “How much is the abandoned house and lot at 371 Beacon street? I’d like to buy it.”
The rumors going through the town could not have been further from the truth. The woman did not want to destroy the lot, she wanted to buy it.
The clerk found the few records there were for the property and looked carefully at them. “There are a lot of back taxes due. It would be quite costly to buy it, let alone the expense to clean it up. ”
“Never you mind that, is the property for sale or not?” she replied.
The clerk scratched his head. “Yes Ma’am, the lot is for sale. The daughters have been wanting to sell it for years but no one has shown any interest until now.” Hearing that, the woman bought the worthless eyesore right then and there.
She moved in with her husband and all summer long they worked extra hard. They cleared weeds, removed trash, and made major repairs to the house. Then, they trimmed the trees and bushes, and planted many kinds of beautiful flowers. They even added a cobblestone walkway leading up to the front door. Out back, behind the house, they added a small pond with a fountain. The lot that was once such an eyesore had now become a beautiful showplace once again. Love, time and a little work had transformed the lot. People went out of their way just to walk by and take a look at the beautiful view of the property as they had done before.
What the gardener did next also surprised the whole town. She hung a sign out front that read:
When she was younger, someone had taught her how to do gardening and now, she wanted to teach others how to transform eyesores into things of beauty. Before long, the town contained many beautiful gardens.
We can compare some people to that old run-down lot. They look worthless and many people go out of their way to avoid them. It may be the poor person who cannot afford new clothing, or the hungry person begging on the street, or the drunkard lying in the ditch. The Bible says though that we all have trash in our lives. We all are that abandoned lot. The trash in our life is called sin.
The Good News is that none of us are worthless in God’s eyes. The apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. The Lord sees value in what many may look at as worthless. He wants to clean the trash of sin from each of our lives. We cannot do it ourselves. We need to be willing to allow the Master Gardener to come and do it. We need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and give us a new heart. When you do this, you will be born again and, like the gardener, you will want to share the good news with others. You can let others know about the wonderful work God has done in your life, and that He can do the same for them.
Think about this. When you look at others do you see an eyesore or a potential garden?