Each day whenever I choose to drive down what some of us call the “old road,” I pass by an empty house.  Yesterday, as I looked toward the house, I saw there in the back yard, a vegetable garden.

A Garden—Still Standing.
A Garden—Left Behind.
A Garden—Filled with Un-gathered & Now Rotting Vegetables.

Significant about this garden is the fact that it’s a garden that’s been left behind, a garden that was (at one time) valued and loved. BUT WHY?
Go with me for a moment to that garden.

• One-Time…the ground had been prepared—by this family. 
• One-Time…the seeds had been selected and placed.
• One-Time…the fertilizer had been scattered so carefully. 
• One-Time…the owners willingly tilled the soil to rid the garden of weeds. 
• One-Time…the garden had been cherished.

But Now, the garden sits untouched, deserted, forgotten , and alone. 
Where once the family of two planted, toiled, and gathered together, now the garden stands there (alone) in the backyard, forlorn and forgotten as the family ran in separate directions. 
Thus, the similarities been this garden and our lives is apparent.  Consider—our lives, our faith, our relationships, our marriages, our children, our careers, our    EVERYTHING IMPORTANT  can quickly come to resemble this forgotten garden.
HOW?

Whenever We Turn Toward Ourselves More Than to God.
Whenever We Turn Toward Ourselves More Than to Our Faith.
Whenever We Turn Toward Ourselves & Away From What’s Most Important. 

Each of us have within us desires that drives us to pursue and persevere OR to walk away and quit.
We can either resist temptation OR we can give in to that which tempts us.
Truly, the one that wins is the one we feed the most.
The Apostle Paul knew something about persecution and the desire to give up, to quit, to go back to an old life, and to just stop in his walk with God.  Surely Paul had days when he questioned:

• Why am I (Paul) striving to spread the gospel to those who do not want to hear?
• Why should I continue to care?  
• How can one man (Paul) make a difference?

The Whys & the Hows surely plagued Paul.  Yet, Paul was led by God, and where God leads, God prepares the way.   Where God directs, God goes with the one He is leading.
To Rome is where Paul went at the end of his earthly life.  To the Romans, Paul was inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to scribe these words that we read today within God’s Word.

These words from God’s  Word give us hope.
These words propel us to persist, to prepare, to plant, to till the ground, to carry bucket after bucket of water, to fertilize, and to pray for a good harvest.
WHY?
Because God is Good—ALL THE TIME!!!
HOW?
Through God’s overwhelming strength and peace only He can provide. 

• May we not abandon what’s most important. 
• May we not give in to the devil who lies and prompts us, telling us to give up, to quit.
• May we resist.
• May we persevere. 
• May we show to the world how God overcomes.
• May we Hope.
• May we exalt and praise Almighty God whose amazing love for us never fails.
• May we be filled today with “the love of God that has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us”  (Romans 5:5).