I put fertilizer down on my lawn just before the rain. That was a few days ago, and since then I’ve been looking for signs of growth, for signs that it is working. The grass might be greener, and maybe it is growing. I just can’t tell yet. The growth is slow and steady … but I have faith that it will grow.
What I do see are weeds growing! Overnight, all over, I see weeds. They are pretty obvious – different colors and textures than the grass – and about twice as high. It is easy to pull them out right now but if I let them go they will overtake my yard.
Weeds are like that. They are opportunistic, taking the energy and the feeding first, trying to choke out what should be there.
I fertilized at church also. And I noticed the planting area at the entrance. Actually, I noticed the weeds growing there, waist high and thick. I pulled and I chopped and I even had to cut until they were mostly removed. And what did that reveal when I looked behind and beyond the weeds?
Beauty!
Hidden by the weeds were daylilies and about 15 Easter lilies in bloom - all planted by someone else. So I have to wonder, as we talked about the power of endurance including my spiritual roots today. What weeds are hiding the beauty that the blood of Jesus has put on my heart?
From the song by Kathryn Scott that we sang today: “At the foot of the cross where I am made complete … I trade my ashes in for beauty and wear forgiveness like a crown.”
Tim
What I do see are weeds growing! Overnight, all over, I see weeds. They are pretty obvious – different colors and textures than the grass – and about twice as high. It is easy to pull them out right now but if I let them go they will overtake my yard.
Weeds are like that. They are opportunistic, taking the energy and the feeding first, trying to choke out what should be there.
I fertilized at church also. And I noticed the planting area at the entrance. Actually, I noticed the weeds growing there, waist high and thick. I pulled and I chopped and I even had to cut until they were mostly removed. And what did that reveal when I looked behind and beyond the weeds?
Beauty!
Hidden by the weeds were daylilies and about 15 Easter lilies in bloom - all planted by someone else. So I have to wonder, as we talked about the power of endurance including my spiritual roots today. What weeds are hiding the beauty that the blood of Jesus has put on my heart?
From the song by Kathryn Scott that we sang today: “At the foot of the cross where I am made complete … I trade my ashes in for beauty and wear forgiveness like a crown.”
Tim
3 comments:
WOW! That is such a cool testimony! Thanks for sharing! I really hope we see more of this in the coming future. (this type of sharing on this site and in our church) Tim; I really appreciate you for all you do for our church family! And Caroline too. God bless you and thanks for blessing us! :0) Sal
Thanks Sal
What I hope for is that people can read this and then expand on the applications seen is the weeds and the lilies and use this neat little blog to share their thoughts. Some of those might include -
Rejoicing in and enjoying the beauty that is there, what someone else planted.
How easy it is to ignore weeds even when they grow so big.
Whose job is it to pull weeds? Do we take care of the problem by paying someone to pull the weeds?
TjM
The mystery of when the lilies were planted is solved. Thanks Sue!
Tim
"The lilies under the cross were planted there from Easters years ago, and they have survived multiple winters. Though I have seen them in bloom in years past, they never grew so high, or looked so nice as they do this year. The lilies in the garden by the entrance to the parking lot are plants I stuck out there from 2007's Easter, so they have been
growing out there for a year and three months. I didn't have much hope for them when I stuck them in. I put them in the ground so I wouldn't feel guilty about letting them all die. I knew that they probably would not get watered, except by the rains. I remember running a can or two of water out to them a couple of times last summer, but I was not very good
about remembering them, and given that last summer was so bloomin' hot and dry, I assumed they had perished.
I think the unusually cool and wet summer we are having is what made
them bloom so well this year. What a pleasure it was when I stopped in
the other day to drop off some grocery bags for Gleaners, to see them all looking so beautiful."
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