One day while thinking about my garden ~ God showed me how I could think about my soul in a different way. As with a flower garden! God gave us this beautiful garden (our soul). ~ It is a beautiful garden with every kind of flower that He envisions for us. He is giving us this garden to tend to and we are free to do whatever we want with our garden. When we die, we present to God our garden that He first gave to us. I thought about everything that it takes to make a beautiful garden and how much deliberate effort it takes to keep the garden free of weeds and the flowers blooming. A garden needs sunshine, which I see is God and His love for us. A garden needs water, which I see is the life-giving grace that He freely gives to us. In order to have strong and beautiful flowers and plants, fertilizer is needed to feed and nourish the soil and the flowers. In order for a garden to do well, the soil needs to be tilled and broken up. I see this as the struggles and problems we have in our life. God lets things happen in our life in order to soften and nourish the ground (our soul) so that the flowers can have a perfect environment to grow. By cooperating with the grace that God gives us and being open to His will, we are allowing the seeds that He has sown for us to grow. Of course a garden has weeds that always seem to pop up {human problems}. Unless we keep control of these weeds they can overtake our garden and choke out all the flowers that were thriving. I see the weeds as the sin and vice that can be in our lives and that can keep us from being more closely united to God. . We are free to ignore or pay attention to Our personal gift from God. God planted the flowers and it's up to us to nourish and tend our garden. Finally I see that We never planted the flowers and the plants in our garden. Our garden is perfectly suited for us according to Gods eternal plan. God planted the flowers and it's up to us to nourish and tend our garden so that everything God has planned for us can truly be, and that at the end of our life our garden will be most pleasing to our "Father." Author Unknown