A few days ago, I went out in my backyard and started pulling last year’s dead vegetation in preparation to plant new vegetables, herbs, and flowers for this season. My assumption was that I would have to completely start over this year because, unlike last year, when the freeze hit, I did not try to salvage anything. I left it all out and decided I’d just start over in the Spring.
Much to my surprise, as I started pulling away at the old dead limbs and leaves, there were four of my plants from last year that had started to grow again. They survived the wintery mix and lack of water or attention, not because of anything I did, but because they are God’s creation, and He is a far better gardener than I will ever be. I also think they survived because God wanted to use them to remind me of an important truth.
On Sunday, our pastors spoke about Jesus’ miracles involving nature, reminding us that these miracles are vitally important because they set the God of the Bible, our God, apart from all the other gods that were worshipped in biblical days. This week, God used my plants to further drill this into my heart. Our God is all-powerful, over all of creation. When we have no hope, God is our hope!
I had zero hope that I’d find anything alive in my backyard this year, and God used my living plants to remind me that He’s far more powerful than me. I am so prone to forgetting this. I’ve been in a really challenging season recently, and it is easy for me to lose sight of God’s power and the truth that he is in control! He used Sunday’s sermon, and my plants, to remind me this week that there is always hope. And if he cares about my plants (the ones I didn’t care much about), how much more does he care about me and my children? The same is true for you.
I’m excited to get everything planted this year and see my garden bloom. It is one of my favorite times of the year. But I have a feeling that those four plants will hold a special place in my heart this season as they each serve to remind me that our God is big and powerful, and that all creation submits to him. When I remember this, I have nothing to fear.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
— Matthew 6:25–34