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