How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mary, Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

When I was young, grown-ups often greeted me with the sing-songy question: “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?” Since my name is Mary, they used this line (taken from a famous nursery rhyme) instead of the traditional “How are you?” I must admit it mildly irritated me. They no doubt thought they were being clever and cute, but I didn’t like being called “contrary.” And I didn’t really understand the meaning of the rhyme. But the second part of the rhyme: “With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row” sounded nice, and not at all “contrary”, so whenever I was greeted with the first part of the rhyme, I always put on a bright smile, and in my sweetest nursery rhyme voice, quoted the second part back.

It was in adulthood that I discovered that the this rhyme referred to the English Queen, Mary Tudor, “Bloody Mary,” the daughter of King Henry VIII. The “silver bells” and “cockle shells” were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The ” maids” were guillotines. And the “garden” was an allusion to the graveyards of Protestants she martyred. Bloody Mary was indeed “quite contrary”! … that is: “opposing others, stubborn, against, perverse.”

This rhyme illustrates an important principle: the type of seeds you plant determine the type of harvest you reap. For Bloody Mary, the seeds of “contrariness” led to a harvest of pain, destruction, and death. Her “garden” was full of graves.

The Bible teaches that in order to have gardens of life and beauty, we need to weed out sinful attitudes and actions and plant good seed . And it provides a helpful “filter” that helps us evaluate whether or not the seed is good. I call it the P-48 test, from Philippians 4:8.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”

The P-48 tests the goodness of beliefs, thoughts and words so we can judge if they ought to be planted in our hearts. It is a “PRE-PLANT” test. With P-48, we determine whether the seeds are:

If, after being shaken through this filter, they remain, then they are seeds that we want to plant. If not, they are not from God and should be discarded. You can put your thoughts and words to the test:

• Pure: Do I have the right heart motivation? Are my motives pure? Are my thoughts and words holy?
• Right: Is this proper and appropriate? Is it in conformity with God’s standards and principles? Does it build?
• Excellent: Is this of highest quality? Is it the best – and not just adequate?
• Praiseworthy: Is it commendable? Am I proud of the way I am thinking/speaking? More important, is God proud of me?
• Lovely: Does it have a beauty that appeals to the heart? Does it mirror the beauty and gentleness of Jesus?
• Admirable: Is it worthy of being respected and admired? Would others commend it?
• Noble: Is it of the highest moral character and superior quality? Is it great and magnificent? Does it demonstrate my position as a child of the king?
• True: Is it free of deceit? Does it agree with the Bible’s evaluation of the situation? Does it submit to truth?

Every thought is a seed. Every word is a seed. If you plant crabapples, don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious. – Author Unknown

Today’s Challenge:

Memorize the P-48 test acrostic. Apply this test to your thought and words. Ask God to help you filter out anything that does not meet this standard.