Month: June 2017

Life has a rhythm…sometimes it is felt in staccato…sometimes in the rest…but most of the time, the rhythm is most appreciated in the regular, seemingly mundane half and quarter notes of 4/4 time…even among the whole notes.  For it is in those notes our lives are composed.

I felt this rhythm or the lack of it on my first week out of routine.  I’m not in denial of a routine…it is part of me…  From the rising in the morning to the fuel for the day to the setting of the sun…it is my routine and it is beautiful.  It can’t always be as it is, though.  The song changes, the timing shifts, there is a turn of the page.  What happens when routine flow is no longer routine?  At first, confusion…seemingly scattered thoughts…incoherent ideas…the haphazard life that has been avoided through the routine…but the routine isn’t always possible.  Eventually a new song begins to form…a new work of art…a masterpiece of its own…a joyful set of notes that comes together when least expected and a new rhythm is set into motion.  Had the first not been interrupted, the new might have been missed.  This is the joy of the journey.

Sometimes changing rhythms is scary…turning the page can be unsettling…changing the pace can be unnerving… But if you are willing to move forward, the new song is also a gift.  There is gratefulness in the song, whether a deeper, more solemn tone or an uplifting, celebratory tune.  There is something to learn, something to enjoy, something to take hold of, something that becomes a part of your overall score…your life’s masterpiece…your music for the world to hear and experience that can change the landscape of those around you.  Your music can inspire and uplift…it can flow with those who are struggling…it can show love as it carries others away to another place and time.  Your music, your rhythm is important…God created this song, this score…he composed the notes.  We just have to trust that the composer is there…conducting, leading, turning the pages, traveling the journey…with…us.  Life has a beautiful rhythm…don’t miss the beat.

In the picture…do you see it?  It is just to the left of the large tomato plant.  It is small, almost not recognizable, but it is there.  It is a smaller tomato plant that is growing.  It all started with trimming.  The larger plant to the right of it had a section that needed some attention.  This part of the plant ended up breaking off.  The instant, logical answer would have been to throw it away.  It is, after all, nothing more than a mistake…an error…something that came off in the care of the plant.  The tomato plant itself would continue to grow without it.  It would go on to produce tomatoes and would not even notice that this part had been disconnected.  But…it wasn’t thrown away.

As my mom held it in her hand, she saw potential.  She saw a possibility in this.  So she simply stuck it in the garden next to the other plant.  There was nothing special done…just stuck it in the dirt so that it would get the same water and nutrients as everything else in the garden.  At first, it struggled.  It was in a new environment…on its own…not connected to the life source it had always known.  It shriveled and looked as if it would die.  It looked like nothing more than a weed.  We didn’t pull it.  We just let it adapt.  We just watched and watered.  And then we watched it start to grow.  I have been amazed to see this little stem…this little bit of seemingly insignificance start to grow and get stronger.  It is beginning to flourish.  Will it produce actual tomatoes?  I guess that is to be seen.  But it definitely is holding its own…well, with a little water and love like everything else in the garden needs.

In my small, limited view, I couldn’t help but think this might just be how God sees us sometimes.  The world may see us as small and insignificant, but God sees potential for fruit bearing in us.  We struggle to find out who we are.  We struggle to adapt to a new environment.  We can feel like nothing more than a little sprig in a great big garden.  It may seem as though we aren’t going to do what we were created to do.  And then we get it…we hear his voice…we feel his presence…we are overwhelmed by his love…and we begin to flourish.  We flourish because we are made by him and cared for by him.  We flourish in the hopes that we will too bear fruit as we are created.  We flourish to show others that what the world calls insignificant, God calls strong…loved…filled with purpose…valuable…his beloved.  In your struggles, keep growing and keep watching…God can do mighty things with just a little willingness.  Stand tall…for you have a purpose.

One of the joys for me over the last couple of months has been watching the garden grow.  What started as just a few little plants has blossomed into a beautiful garden that has already produced several dishes on a hot summer-like afternoon.  There is something unique and special about being able to cut up a vegetable that you planted and then watched grow.  I can’t quite describe the feeling of eating from my own garden – it is as if I was a partner with God in the growth of this crop.  I planted and watered – he took care of the rest.  It gives a new perspective on creation and the importance of being a good steward of the world God has given us.

Today, I had the opportunity for my morning visit and tending of the garden (something I really look forward to as the sun comes up).  Some of the garden is beginning to show signs of fatigue…we have been fighting pests that want to eat the collards and cabbage…and now the squash leaves are being attacked.  It is still a joy to tend the garden, but a little disheartening to see the slow destruction by little enemies I do not even see.  They eat away at the beauty of the garden when I don’t even know they are there.  Don’t get me wrong…I am grateful for the crop I have already been able to get from the garden.  I am grateful for the okra that are starting to appear, the tomatoes that are green but show delicious potential.  The zucchini continue to come along slowly with their massive overwhelming leaves.  It is not that I have missed the joy and the beauty.  It is more that I am amazed at the things that eat away at the creation that aren’t even seen.  Often they are there before you know it and you spend the rest of your time trying to combat what you didn’t even know was there in the first place.

Isn’t that often what happens to us?  We are going along great…feeling joyful…enjoying life.  We are being productive, feeling good about our small but significant contribution to the world.  But if we are not careful…if we are not alert…if we are not paying attention…little things can be destroying us and we not recognize it.  For me, I am most alert to this when I am still and silent.  I am most aware of those little things that are going on when I am listening…when I stop the hectic pace of the day.  I am awakened to my disease when I read God’s Word.  I realize that I have a life that is wonderful and I am grateful.  I have a life that needs to be tended to and watched carefully so that I can grow and develop into what God has created.  I have to be aware that there is an enemy that wants to destroy but I have a God that is bigger than the enemy.  If I want to flourish and produce and be all that I am created, I have to be aware of the things that may be trying to take me away from my purpose.  What may be distracting you today?  What is it that may be eating away at you this morning that you haven’t considered?