Our Heavenly Father is many things.
This time of year, the Christmas story reminds us His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. Our favorite carols play and remind us that He is the Everlasting Father, Emmanuel, Holy One, Son of God, and the Savior of the world. But long before those verses we read in Luke each year, in one of the very first passages of scripture, we are introduced to our Father in Eden—a gardener, hands in the dirt, breathing the world into existence. He is a nurturer of all life, a protector and planter, a designer, keeper, and pruner concerned with life’s flourishing. Have you ever considered what such an identity of God might mean to you? Or to the world around you? Or to Turning Pointe?
This month as a studio, following our trajectory of planting and growing, we’re studying the word “nourish,” along with Deuteronomy 32:13:
“He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag.”
Nourishment is the foundational catalyst, and a necessary prerequisite for growth. Without nourishment, growth is stunted, or halted altogether. Just as a plant needs sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow, humans also rely on nourishment to grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
“When I think of the word nourish, I think of providing for something—things that support and maintain so something can grow,” Turning Pointe owner Tina Cook said. “Over the years, Turning Pointe has had many key people that have nourished the seeds. They have brought water and sunshine and believed in something that maybe they didn’t see yet.”
In the chaos of the holiday season, it’s easy to think we need to handle everything—the cooking, the cleaning, the presents, the magic. The same is true in our everyday lives, and in our dancing. But the thing is, every garden needs a gardener, and ours made new the broken world. He took the chaos of the cosmos and turned it into a beautiful paradise. He will provide the nourishment we need to grow and the gifts we need to help us thrive again and again, even after the harshest winters.
“A lot of that nourishing season (for the studio) was learning what our lane is, what our mission is, and discerning what God was calling THIS studio to be,” Cook said. “It was learning what ideas to let grow and what ideas were weeds that we needed to let go. I’m grateful for the people God has brought in the many seasons of this dream’s growth to nourish not only the dream, but me.”
When we lean on the Lord to be our provider, and allow Him to nourish the gardens of our hearts, we steward our lives for His glory. When we allow the helpers He’s provided to care for each other, we’re nourishing the whole body of Christ.
“We don’t grow on our own,” Cook said. “The fruit from our lives flows from thousands of acts of love and faithfulness from others. There are so many who tend to the soil of our hearts and who help our roots grow deep. Who is a source of nourishment in your life? Thank them today for their investment and care.”