Good morning…
Yesterday, I read a tender devotional message written by a calm, compassion co-worker, a beautiful young woman with a loving and gentle soul. With her permission, I now share these life-giving words with you.
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Northside Weekdays – April 22nd – Elisabeth Shabi
I am now in the second year of watching my garden grow. When I first bought my plants and nestled them into the freshly turned earth, they were small. It was hard to leave the prescribed amount of space between each plant because the garden still looked so empty. But I watched them eagerly. I watered them. I protected them from frost (well, most of them).
But despite my excitement, they really didn’t do much at all. They stayed small and relatively boring. Summer came and went. Fall. Winter.
Then, all of a sudden, one day in February, there was a bright green Lenten Rose amidst those boring, dark leaves I’d been staring at. I blinked and the Lamium had spread to twice its size. The Creeping Jenny went from brown to bright green in less than a week. The Coral Bells that I thought had died sprouted new, bright leaves. The ferns doubled in height. A single red rose appeared.
Looking around at all of this, tending to my little plot of land and learning it’s rhythms, I feel closer to my Creator. Even if I don’t understand it yet, there is a language here to be learned. Something bigger to be perceived.
God didn’t design the skyscrapers I see along my commute. God didn’t pave the road I drive. God didn’t even build the church I work in.
But Scripture does tell us that God made the dirt, the water, and the plants:
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1).
I can’t help but wonder what this garden can tell me about my Creator…
Perhaps the knowledge that everything grows in God’s good time. Not to be rushed. Not to be hurried. We are not in control. (See Ecclesiastes 2:11-14, 3:1-15)
Maybe it’s a reminder that we are meant to grow, not to stagnate. Because after all, God creates living, growing things. It’s us humans that make things that rust, break, and shatter. (See Philippians 1:9-11)
What if the garden serves as a metaphor for how God cares for us? A Master Gardener, sowing the seeds where they will thrive and patiently waiting for the harvest. (See Matthew 13)
Or possibly it is a lesson in the long, steady, arc of God’s plan. Some things bloom, some things die. But there is always a rhythm to the seasons. And God’s loving design endures far beyond my life. (See Psalm 136)
Whatever the message may be, I am certain that it takes eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mind that’s willing.
On this Earth Day, I invite you to join me in looking around at this gorgeous creation and pondering the holy mystery of our God.
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Everything grows in God’s good time. We too are meant to grow, not to stagnate. Some things bloom, some things die, but there is always a rhythm to the seasons. God’s loving design endures far beyond our lives. What a holy mystery!
The Eternal One will never leave you; He will lead you in the way that you should go. When you feel dried up and worthless, God will nourish you and give you strength. And you will grow like a garden lovingly tended; you will be like a spring whose water never runs out (Isaiah 58:11, VOICE).
Do you and I have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a mind that’s willing to trust?
…Sue…
