Lots of people have beautifully landscaped yards instantly by visiting their local garden shop and purchasing flowers and bushes that are half-grown which they only have to stick in the ground. Me? Well, a meager yard budget has forced me over the years to get my backyard foliage a little at a time mostly by rescuing plants that other people have discarded. A few years ago, our neighbors on the right side had some azaleas that were dying in their backyard. They pulled them up and dumped them in the empty lot on the left side of our house. Of course I eyed them immediately and dragged them to the back yard. They were pitifully spindly and weak, but I saw what looked like a hint of life left in them. What was I to lose? If they died, I wasn't out any money. So, I pruned them back drastically to cut off dead limbs to encourage new growth. At the same time, I had to leave some weak looking branches that had the few surviving leaves in which to collect sunlight. They had an awkward shape, but the next year they looked a little healthier and I was able to cut off a few more limbs and shape them up a bit. Each year I've babied them along until this year although not very large, they are full of healthy leaves. My garden may take me forever, but there is a certain satisfaction of rescuing something that is dying or that someone else is tired of and giving it a home in my backyard and watch it flourish. It reminds me a little of our rescuing God. Only it is more amazing that while He has the resources to discard us and begin again, He chooses to rescue us and place us in His kingdom. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col 1:13 NASV)
