Welcome to the Planting Place!

Christmas is almost here! Each year I can’t help but think, what can I give to the Lord as a gift? But what do I really have that would be fit to give a King? My mind turns to Psalm 16:2:

“I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”

So the only good I truly have is You…How do I give You…You?

My favorite Christmas Carol (and actually one of my favorite songs of all) is “The Little Drummer Boy”. This little boy without a name, described by the one ability he possessed, understood he had nothing to give the tiny King, except to present a heart that offered the gift he had been given back to the Giver. The heart is the place where the King of Kings desires to make His home. The heart, like the manger, is the place that makes room for the King. A manger, filled with straw – doesn’t seem fitting to me. A quick search on the Web about straw hit upon an interesting discovery: “Straw is a renewable material offering good thermal insulation properties…” Hmmm, renewable and thermal insulation properties.

I want to be like the Little Drummer Boy. I want to offer back to my King the best of every gift He has given me. And I want to be like straw. I want to be renewable, daily renewed in His Word by the power of His Holy Spirit. And I want my heart to offer good thermal insulation – insulation from the cold of my complacency and callousness, and insulation from the heatwaves of my hotheadedness and haughtiness; that the temperature of my heart be a place suitable for the Babe of Bethlehem, the King of Kings, to rule and reign.

So what can I give? A heart fit for His Abiding… but that I cannot do. That is His work and it is a lifetime process, accomplished by His grace, His Holy Spirit and His Word, a gift received by faith, that He would be glorified. The Little Drummer Boy came with humble heart to play his best for the tiny King. The straw was prepared in the manger to hold the baby so that others might behold Him. What can I give? I can humbly play my best for Him and willfully accept His preparation so others might behold Him. And with the Little Drummer Boy I want to be able to sing, “Then He smiled at me…”

You are invited to the Planting Place. A place where together we present our hearts to the One who sows and plants, waters and nourishes, and cultivates our hearts to become the best we can offer, a place fit for Him!

Let’s Grow Together!