Pastor Mike Nodland of the Christian Fellowship Church in Vining, IA.

Varmints are haunting our gardens with unabashed brazenness! Insultingly, I find rabbits playfully romping through my garden with all care thrown to the wind, and when I pound on the window or yell and clap my hands from the back door, they seem to defiantly go into a stare-down competition with me.

So I put up a chicken wire fence around my newly planted green veggie treasures only to see the rabbits gather and seemingly salivate every morning, testing the wire and my patience simultaneously.

Problem solved — except at this point, my garden plants looked like they were barely surviving. I fertilized them, watered them through this season’s drought and propped them up, but they flopped back down.

I pampered them, hoed around them, and destroyed the competitive weeds, but they were just barely surviving. I was destined to have a drooping garden!

I gave up! Nothing helped, but then I noticed that “nothing DID help!” It reminded me of the message of the Bible: Jesus did it all, and He didn’t need my help.

Plain and simple, Jesus paid it all — all my sins He’s forgiven. You don’t need to do a thing but place your trust in Him.

Are you thriving, or just surviving? Jesus has a better way.