Quality edging is one of the tell-tale signs between a well tended garden and one that has been neglected. A well edged garden not only looks neater in that it has defined borders, but also has fewer weeds and grass that can creep in. The beauty on the inside of the garden is protected from whatever surrounds it. Edging a vegetable or flower garden is very similar to managing the garden of one’s soul. Proper boundaries in our lives between maintaining the good and keeping out evil is essential to growth in the Christian life.
Edging requires hard work. Anyone who has taken to gardening seriously has realized that you have to dig deep, carefully and frequently to maintain a good edge to your garden. You have to be persistent and vigilant in order to protect what you have planted. We can recognize this calling to edge the garden of our souls in some of the first psalms we recite in the morning (from First Hour, traditionally prayed an hour after sunrise): “I have walked within my house in innocence of heart. I have set no lawless deed before my eyes; I have hated those who do wrong. No twisted heart has cleaved to me; the evil man who avoided me I have not acknowledged. The one who secretly slanders his neighbour, him I have banished. With a man of proud looks and an insatiate heart, I have not eaten. I look with favour on the faithful in the land, that they might dwell with me; the man who walks on a blameless path, he has served me” (Psalm 100).** We begin the day by re-establishing our behaviours: Do I slander people secretly? Am I proud? Am I content with what has been given to me? We know that to live the Christian life requires us to have certain borders around our behaviour and we re-edge our souls every morning while we chant the psalms.
Edging is not only hard work, but it is sacrificial by nature. Your garden has to have a border, not everything can be your garden. Your garden begins in a certain place and ends in another. Establishing the border around your garden means reducing the size of it, cutting away what shouldn’t be there, and making a line that will not be passed by other plants. In our Christian lives we set up boundaries against evil, and establish a line in our own personal behaviour to help us not participate in evil. Things that we might want to do or say in a certain situation must be “cut off,” just like how we would cut the border around a garden. We give up part of the garden to act as a wall or moat around it. When we establish borders in our souls against evil are are also called to sacrifice things that endanger our souls.
As much as we love the garden of souls, we must keep in mind that we have been hired to take care of Someone elses’ garden. We did not plant this garden, it was the Lord who constructed and weaved us together in our mother’s wombs (Psalm 139:14). We must listen to the program the Lord has laid down for us in the Holy Scriptures and live by these boundaries, giving up things we have been told to give up. No matter how much we would like to determine the dimensions of our own garden and decide what we should accept and what we should reject, ultimately it is the Lord who has given us the dimensions. We need to follow His design faithfully in order to be healthy and joyful Christians. This can be a painful process, just as all growth is, but it will benefit us much come harvest time.
If you recall, we can remember the tale of the First Gardener, who planted a garden in Eden and placed the Man there to till and protect it. This Master Gardener passed on some of the gardening responsibility to Adam and asked him to “till and protect it” (Gen 2:15). Adam and Eve decided to redefine the edge of their garden however, deciding to do things their own way instead of following the boundaries of the Master of the garden.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to remain faithful to the boundaries the Lord has established for our Christian lives, striving to keep growing in the good and keeping far from evil! Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
**With the Christian interpretation of the psalms, the emphasis is on self judgement of behaviour, and not focusing on the sins of others. The appropriate question which should be reflected on when reading this psalm is “do I act like this?”
