Last year, I placed a flower pot on my patio.

It was only half-filled with potting soil.  There wasn't any sign of life.
There were no seeds to grow.  So as you can imagine the flowerpot remained
barren.

Last week, I decided that the neglected flower pot needed a little lift.  I
went to a garden shop and checked out the blooming plants.  While trying to
decide which flowers to purchase, I went to another store and ran across 
some flower seeds.  I picked up one of the packages and read the 
instructions for planting.

“I am up for the challenge,” I thought.  Many people have green thumbs, but
I have always insisted that I don't.  Either I water my plants too often or
not enough.  I either bake the plant in the sunshine or place it in areas
that are too shady.  I know some plants like it hot and wet, while others
like it dry and shady.  But for the life of me, I cannot remember which are
which.

As I stood holding the envelope of seeds, I felt the urge to see if for the
first time I could actually make something grow.  I purchased several 
packages and returned home with a gardener's determination and drive.  I 
immediately planted the seeds in the almost forgotten flower pot.  For a 
couple of days nothing happened. But I continued to water the soil.

On the fourth day, I actually saw green sprouts as they had just broken 
through the soil.  I was so excited.  The tiny shoots brought a smile to my
face.  I called Roy to come to look at them.  Maybe my thumb wasn't 
completely off-colored after all!  Maybe I could make something grow!

I thought about how growing flowers are much like growing happiness.  Our
lives are sometimes like the empty pot.  Our days are filled with worldly
tasks and possessions.  But because worldly things are of such little 
importance, we lack a feeling of completeness. We sense there is something
missing. The things missing are the seeds that produce the fruit of the Spirit we 
need to make us complete as we grow closer to God. 

We can all have a loving, joyful, completely full life if we plant the seeds of Christ 
in our soul and water them and nurture them by removing the worldly things and 
replacing them with the godly things.

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
 lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, 
heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you 
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit 
the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
 goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are 
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us
 also walk in the Spirit.” - Galatians 5:19-25.