Pastor's Pen: We need to cultivate our Christian faith

I like the Springtime especially with all the beautiful plants beginning to show themselves above the surface after a long and hard winter, bringing new life to our gardens. Then there is the summer itself and again all those beautiful different scents and of course many of the gardens display a beautiful profusion of colour.

It makes me feel fortunate to be alive and to be able to enjoy the benefits which our beautiful part of the world has to offer.

A few days ago whilst out for one of our walks we met a gentleman and his wife who were busy in their garden together attempting to do a bit of a clean up and some general gardening chores after all the rain we’ve had recently. I told them how much pleasure their beautiful garden gave us from Springtime on, the bright colours and of course the different aromas given off by some of their flowers. They thanked us and then told us roughly how many hours they spend researching different seed catalogues and visiting garden centres throughout Northern Ireland, constantly updating and developing their garden which the love doing. They certainly make the old saying ring true that “a garden only reflects the amount of work you put into it.”

So too it is with our Christian faith. We need to cultivate it to make it grow and we need to nurture it of course. Constantly studying, reading our Bible and the different Bible commentaries that are also available. Our prayer time and our church time when we both listen and share with others.

The more we learn about God the more we grow to love Him and the more we come to love the earth and all its beauty each day which He made just for us.

Our Christian Witness will only reflect the amount of time we are willing to put into it, just like our gardens.

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118 v 24

By Tom Irwin