It rained! – Sunday night – May 6th – for the first time for weeks. Good rain too, which soaked into the very dry hardened soil. Vegetables I had sown and planted over April would profit greatly: the ground in which I wanted to plant other things for the months ahead was now just right. I uttered a heartfelt “Thank you Lord, for this rain”: but with the rain, comes the weeds!
I have often wondered why it is that weeds grow three times faster than plants! Maybe that defines a weed! The things I plant take much more time to grow than that which is self-sown. That set me thinking – for I am a bit like that. The things of real value which God longs to plant, nurture and develop in my life somehow grow much more slowly than that which is “self-sown”, like the weeds in my garden, which ultimately offer me little or nothing, and spread so easily.
As the sun gives warmth, and the rain moisture, the ground gives its nourishment to both what I plant, and what is self-sown. I sense that too easily we can give our
energies to that which is “self-sown”- or just comes along, which in the long-term is
unhelpful: that means there is so much less energy and resource given for nourishing that which is good, Christ-like, and fruitful: the things which our Creator – the master gardener longs to develop within us.
What do we nourish in our daily living – and what might the Creator think of our choices?
With my greetings, Jim Stevens