Garden full of grass and weeds tempts me to plow it over or mow it down…but then, I would miss the hidden treasures; the tiny little basil plants growing under graying zinnias, the volunteer tomato plants, the wild flowers whose seeds I planted back in the spring…I thought they had been lost.
These little gifts that survive beneath the heavy cover of weeds and overgrowing melon plants are the reason I do not listen to the temptation to stop the backbreaking weed-by-weed pulling and go get the big John Deere tractor to mow and till it all under. I love those surprises. I adore the hardy little plants that are ALIVE against all odds. They speak to me somehow.
How like our Heavenly Father this is! He has the power to drive the John Deere over the mess we’ve made. He can plow it all up and start again. He could stop the helter skelter growth of dangerous and invasive thinking. He could crush evil in its steps. All the wicked weeds choking out the good and intentional plants could be wiped away in moments. And yet…He pauses. He waits.
He puts farmers in the fields. He asks tenacious gardeners to patiently pull one weed at a time out by its roots. He puts ideas into our hearts for growth and expansion and beauty. He works with us, not against us, in the quest to grow life, to fertilize soils, to use our landscape for our good.
How is it that this God is so long-suffering that He would go to these lengths when we are struggling and bent over in labor over the very thing that He loves? This Creation, He said, is GOOD. He asked His people to care for her and He comes along side the work to bring forth amazing Grace.
The little discoveries along the way are worth every minute of sweat out in the hot and brutal sun. The ones that are saved from the tangle of weeds are a rich and unexpected gift!
Thank You Lord for giving me this job. I am honored to work amongst the weeds and the dirt of this life.
"Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then gather the wheat and put it in My barn." -Matthew 13:30