Tending to the inner life

We all need time and margin to think.One of my favorite places to accomplish this in my life is while I am logging some miles on my bike. The other morning as I rode through some rural roads and passed some homes that had some gardens it caused me to reflect.[quote align="center" color="#999999"]What if we put as much effort into our inner life as we often do with the exterior that people see?[/quote]I am often guilty of being concerned and driven by what people will THINK I am, instead of developing the inner life which is really WHO I am. I wonder what our world would look like if we were as strong on the INSIDE as we appear to be on the OUTSIDE. At times it is easy to hope that internal growth will just happen as time passes. We tell ourselves that maybe by osmosis and being around the right things, our inner life will grow stronger. But unless it is tended to it won't grow and it won't produce health.Take the garden for example. You could want incredible fruitfulness in a garden. You could even go through the process of planting the right seeds in the right locations. Yet, if you don't continue to tend to the garden, it will not produce what you would hope for. Gardens have to be weeded. They require watering. They need to be continually taken care of.Our inner lives are no different.The challenge is no one can do this for us. No one else is responsible for the condition of our inner lives but us.Take some time to consider the condition of your inner life.Has it been neglected? What needs to be tended to right away? What has been given more attention in your life that needs to be adjusted so that you can experience health and strength, not just in what people see, but in who you really are?