Garden Lessons

By Debra J. Vaughn

A collection of short stories from new author Debra J. Vaughn, Garden Lessons: Listening for Gods Voice will delight the reader with its personal and profound observations. Whether pondering plants, squirrels, butterflies or birds, all nature provides Debra with fresh perspectives on biblical principles. As she listens for Gods voice and shares what shes learned, the author invites you to come and meet with God in his creation.

A result of journaling over the course of several years, these lessons of encouragement and hope were refined in order to share them with groups to whom Debra was asked to speak. From single parents to mothers of special needs children to Bible study groups, Debras garden lessons became favorites to all who heard them.

Now compiled in full color book form with lovely pictures to inspire, Garden Lessons: Listening for Gods Voice will be a treasured gift to share with others for years to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469154923

Debra J. Vaughn

Debra J. Vaughn has been known as a vocalist and worship leader for many years. The first album that featured Debra as a solo artist, Neal Joseph’s “Come Celebrate Jesus,” won the 1985 Dove Award for “Musical of the Year.” Although passionate about music, Debra also counts writing and gardening among her great loves. She’s found it’s possible to combine all three as she shares her garden lessons to prepare hearts to worship God. GARDEN LESSONS: Listening for God’s Voice is Debra’s first book

Book preview

Welcome to the Garden

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In the garden my husband Keith and I have, I feel God’s presence and hear him whisper to me as I walk and work in his creation. It amazes me to think that he made all of it, yet he lives in my heart! May I share with you some of the things he’s taught me in this place?

There’s one part of the garden that’s waving with purple Russian sage. The hummingbirds love that area and have totally claimed it as theirs, feeding there all day long. One day, I needed to water some new seedlings close to the sage, so out I went with the hose to water these plants that would also feed the hummingbirds. But were they happy I was doing that? No way! They dive-bombed my head and chattered at me angrily. They had no idea that what I was doing was really for their good.

I thought about how much like those hummingbirds we can be when God comes to work in the gardens of our lives. We, too, don’t see the good that he has in mind, so we get angry and yell at him to leave us alone. He’s upsetting our routine! We like things just the way they are, thank you! But he loves us anyway and continues to do what’s best for us.

There’s another place in our garden that birds love, especially goldfinches. We’ve put up some long tube-shaped bird feeders that we can see from our kitchen window. Keith and I love to look out and watch the different finches eat and interact with each other. But when their feeders run low, these little guys get noisy.

Now, their favorite seed is thistle or Nijer seed, which happens to be the most expensive seed in the stores. When Keith sees that they’re out of seed again, he looks at me and says, Man, they’re eating me out of house and home! But he disregards the cost and heads out to fill their feeders because he knows they need it.

It’s interesting that when he approaches, they scatter! Some fly completely away. But those who’ve been around a while, those who know him and trust him, go to the nearby trees and wait for him to finish. They know he’s providing for them.

I see God and us in this situation too. When God comes near, some of us fly completely away. But those of us who’ve learned he has our best interests in mind will trust and wait patiently to see how he’ll provide for us. And how does God provide? He also disregarded the cost and gave us the most expensive thing he had—his one and only Son. God knew Jesus was just what we needed.

There’s one more place in our garden I’d like to tell you about: our butterfly garden. A while back, we planted milkweed in our parking area because it spreads like a weed, similar to dandelions. After a while, it started looking pretty ratty, so I went out to see what the problem was. When I looked closely, I saw these big colorful caterpillars just mowing down the leaves, really chomping away. I thought they might be something special, and when I went on the Internet to see what they were, I found out they were monarch caterpillars.

Milkweed, it turns out, is the host plant for monarch butterflies—meaning the butterflies drink the nectar from the flowers and lay their eggs on the leaves because it’s the only plant their caterpillars will eat. Then they make their cocoons (chrysalises) nearby, so the butterflies will have their food source right at hand once they emerge. We’ve had the privilege of observing their entire life cycle. When I find a new one, I excitedly enter the house to find Keith so he can come and look too.

Some of you may identify with the story of the hummingbirds, while others may have related more to the goldfinches. But maybe some of you feel like these caterpillars—totally insignificant, thinking God doesn’t even know you’re there. Can I offer you some encouragement? He does know you’re there . . . and he delights in you far more than I do in the caterpillars.

Recently I heard that the DNA of a caterpillar is the exact same DNA as its butterfly. Isn’t that cool? In the same way, when you accept Jesus as Savior, he puts his DNA in you and he wants you to become a beautiful butterfly by becoming more like him. It’s a process that you can’t hurry and many times it’s uncomfortable. But if you wait—and trust him—he will make it happen.

My theme song, Make Me Like You by Ross Lehman, has a great message along those very lines:

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© Gary Richmond

Lord, it hurts me, I don’t want to grow anymore . . .

Sometimes the struggles are too much for me to bear;

Makes me wonder just how much You really care.

But each and every trial that You bring

Is designed to do one very special thing:

Make me like You.

(Used by permission)

I know God is working to make me like him. And often, he teaches me those lessons in the garden. I hear his voice clearly as he draws my attention to principles and truths, warnings and comfort as seen among the flowers, trees and bushes, hummingbirds and butterflies. I invite you to join me in wandering through the garden and listening to what God has to say to us.

The Baby Hummingbird

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As I sat on our back deck early one morning, beginning my prayer and devotional time, I heard a hummingbird chattering an alarm call nearby. I soon located