Flowers in the Weeds

When I was at Biola University, I had a roommate who really liked the music of Five Iron Frenzy. She got me listening to it, and we even went to a few of their concerts. One of my favorite songs was “Dandelions”. It begins by describing a scene of a little boy collecting yellow flowers to give to his mom. The mom then holds them tight and puts them in a vase, celebrating her son’s efforts and thoughtfulness.

It’s been years since I thought of this song. Life kind of takes over, and the tunes that we rocked out to yesterday become old and forgotten as our tastes and interests change. However, I began thinking of this song this weekend while at a Women’s Day Retreat that our church hosted. We did a little art project where we went out and took pictures will our cell phone of things that struck us as beautiful. We tried to slow down and listen to God pointing out His beauty and love to us in the neighborhood around the church before returning to reflect and savor the moments of beauty caught on our cell phones.

My favorite picture that I took was this one:

A dandelion growing in the shade of the sidewalk that led to our church’s front doors. Any other day I would have walked right past. If this dandelion had been growing in my own yard I would have ripped it out with vengeance because these are weeds that ruin the lawn. But something stopped me here. Perhaps it was the full head of seeds that were waiting for the afternoon breeze to take them away. Perhaps it was the location and the bend of the stem that reached out towards the sunlight. Whatever it was, I began to hear the Five Iron Frenzy tune stream through my mind.

She sees love where anyone else would see weeds

All hope is found.

Here is everything he needs.

My son has recently begun picking flowers to give me randomly. His current flower of choice is the deep red mums that grow in a large pot near our patio. But, he isn’t just bringing them to me to hold them for him as a trusted guardian, he gives them to me to keep. Except he usually brings me the dead ones. We’re working on it.

But the Five Iron Frenzy song isn’t just about a little boy’s gift to his mother, it’s about our own tentative gifts and doings toward our Heavenly Father.

Where do I fit in this puzzle,

What good are these gifts?

Not a martyr or a saint

Scarcely can I struggle through

All that I have ever wanted

Was to give my best to you.

Lord search my heart.

Create in me something clean

Dandelions—

You see flowers in these weeds

Two weeks ago I developed tendinitis in my right forearm after digging up and harvesting my potatoes. I had not anticipated having a four week rest period with little activity. In my last post I recounted how I needed to process all the garden goods and get meals and other yummy delights made. I now have seven LARGE winter squash in various places around my house that are just waiting, and daily remind me that I am falling behind. Instead of making yummy meals for my family to eat now and later, we are eating various meals already in the freezer because it hurts to stir, chop, lift, and just cook. I’ve been riding the slide down into the blues. I’m pregnant, so my strength feels gone. My arm is hurt, so what little I could still do is removed. I can type—hence this post—but even that twinges and hurts. Not a martyr or a saint, scarcely can I struggle through. I feel like all I have to offer lately is weeds. No beautiful roses or stunning orchids. Just dandelions, just weeds.

However, this last weekend reminded me that these weeds are still God’s creation, and He delights in them. Matthew 6:28-30 says:

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Not even Solomon could compare with the dainty and fragile beauty of these wild flowers. God delights in us (Psalm 149:4), and our feeble efforts to pursue righteousness and holiness. He has given us commands to love each other and to care for the earth and all that is in it, but He knows we will do so imperfectly. He knows we will love Him with an imperfect love until we are raised in glory and brought into His courts. He sees flowers in our weeds. He does not cast them aside as though they were a shameful gift, but He treasures them, puts them in a vase, and displays them on His table. Because, you see, it’s not about what we can do and bring Him. It’s about what Jesus has already done. We are covered with Christ’s righteousness (Galatians 3:27), so even the most humble of gifts is received with grace, honor, and love.

All hope is found.

Here is everything he needs.

So, if you’re like me lately, if you’re out in the weeds, struggling to value your work and daily chores, fighting to just keep it together, or desperate to understand where you fit into God’s plan: first, you’re not alone; second, God loves and treasures you, and is waiting to receive your dandelions. There is no shame in the love of Christ, and we can always go to the arms of our Father to be comforted and reassured. Amen and Amen.

Letting Your Garden Winter

The last three weeks have been busy as Fall has officially made its debut in Colorado! The trees up and down my street are glorious shades of yellow, coral, orange, and red, and the almost constant breeze makes the leaves fall from their branches and shower the streets with lovely colors. And then they get dry and crunchy. There is nothing better than going for a walk and stepping on crunchy leaves.

But it also means that I have been rushing to bring in the harvest and prepare my garden for winter. I had a goal of making sure I rested well in November and December (just like I’ve had a goal to rest all year long right?), so that means I am hustling to not only bring in the various vegetables and fruits that have grown all summer long, but also process them and do something with them. I discovered a few years ago that I used more of my harvest when I actually prepared meals. Making three of a meal instead of just one does take a bit of extra time and preparation. But, it is so nice to have healthy choices in the freezer for those inevitable I-have-no-idea-whats-for-dinner-why-are-you-looking-at-me-like-that days. Thus, October a busier month for me.

This year, it’s not just the endless batches of breads, sauces, and dried herbs that I am trying to manage, it’s also the garden clean up. I need to turn the soil in each planter box and rip out all the plants and many of the roots so that they will be one step closer to being ready in the spring. And all the work to winterize my garden has made me a bit introspective about how our souls are like gardens. In order to be able to plant, and grow, and harvest. There must first come the painful and toilsome work of ripping out, tearing down, and throwing away. And then the cold, dark, winter comes, and very few things can grow and thrive through winter. Most things, even Perennial plants, go into a state of hibernation and waiting.

We all need times of rest and healing to recover and be restored to a place where we can support life. After Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he recounts in Galatians 1:15-18 that he spent three years in Arabia. This was a time of formation and study for him. I daresay he was not producing much fruit here because one would think that it would have been recorded in detail like his later missionary journeys. God was working in Paul during this time to tear up what had been planted previously, and sow seeds of truth and righteousness from grace—not from the law—in him. Furthermore, he wasn’t going to be growing and doing the same things he had been—there was a new fruit prepared for him, the Gentiles.

 

These dry dark times in our lives should not scare us because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are never alone or far from God because His Spirit lives within us. These times can be hard though, it can make us question our worth, purpose, direction, and visibility to God and others. But these times are also necessary. We need to have time to be renewed and restored if we want to be transformed. In order to be more like Jesus, we have to be willing to let the old go, even if it has to be ripped and cut out just as I am getting ready to do with my tomatoes.

We have to have the winter rain and snow poured over us to cleanse us. And, we even need fertilizer and manure to be mixed in to make us fertile again for God’s work that He has set out for us to do. If it feels like you’re wading through mud and poo right now, you probably are. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting dirty from it, it might be that you are being prepared for a full, maximum, amazing life that bears much fruit and blesses many.

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. – John 10:10

May your fall be colorful, and your winter seasoned with everything you need to live a rich and vibrant life with Christ as your redeemer.

When We don't Win

There are thousands of hardworking Christians around who can testify to the fact that God allows us to fail. Just because we are faithful and put a lot of prayer into something, it doesn’t mean success is guaranteed. God’s blessing and favor are not formulas that can be solved, and His main goal for us is not to experience every success and happiness in life. The Summer Olympic Games finished just a few months ago, and for every success story and gold medal handed out, there are hundreds of athletes who went home empty handed—and not for lack of trying.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 says:

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift,

or the battle to the strong.

Nor does food come to the wise,

or wealth to the brilliant,

or favor to the learned;

but time and chance happen to them all.

If only favor came to the learned, that easily, my school debts would be paid off and I could live quite comfortably. Alas, that is not how it works, and that is not how God works! So why should we even try if there is no guarantee? Watching the gymnastics Olympic Trials in July gave me a good frame of reference for these verses. There were only a handful of the best gymnasts in the country invited to try out for the Olympic Team. Of those 14 gymnasts, only five were selected. The Olympics is only every 4 years, and female gymnasts peak around 16-18 years old. That means, for most of these young ladies, this is their one shot at Olympic glory. Gymnastics is a short lived sport and athletes like Oksana Chusovitina (41 year old gymnast who has qualified and competed in 7 Olympic Games) are extremely rare. The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong. One of the gymnasts trying out for the USA Olympic Gymnastics Team, Maggie Nichols, was still recovering from a knee surgery. When I had surgery on my knee, it took my 2 years to finally feel “normal” again. But for her, she was flipping and pushing the limits of gravity six months after surgery because her dream of being a part of the Olympic team was on the line.

And she didn’t make the team. A lifetime of hard work and sacrifice, gone.

 What Solomon is saying here is that there is no guarantee. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, he comments frequently that everything is “meaningless!” There is no consistent logic to life. One person beats the odds of cancer while another dies painfully, even though they receive the same treatment. A star athlete gets hurt before a big competition and fades away into obscurity, while another shoots to stardom overnight. A missionary returns from the mission field in shame after their funding runs out, while a secular, atheist businessman’s company thrives and gives the owner access to greater sins and disbelief. Time and chance happen to them all.

So we work hard, we attend Bible Studies, we do our due diligence to maintain our faith and try to take precautions against every negative thing that may happen, but it is not a guarantee that our kids will be safe and on a good path themselves. It is not a guarantee that we won’t suffer, doubt, be persecuted, or left high and dry by other Christians. Life is kind of a bummer sometimes. I had a high school teacher that used to say, “Life’s a bear, and then you get eaten by one.” I think Solomon would approve this saying. Life is hard, and our faith is not a guarantee for earthly success, because God cares more about our holiness and eternal salvation. God also is in the unique position of being able to see and know the future and how today’s triumphs and failures will affect and change us.

Shawn Johnson, America’s sweetheart star gymnast in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, came in second place in the All Around competition behind teammate Nastia Luikin. There was a so much expectation for her to win, and coming in second sent her into a tail spin that ultimately led her to the feet of Jesus. If she had won the gold, would she have ended up with the same realization of her worth and value in the eyes of her creator?

But most of us are not Olympic athletes in the spotlight, whose failures are televised and broadcast for the world to see. We are ordinary people trying to live ordinary lives, trying to make ends meet, keep it together, and hopefully be able to take that much needed vacation sometime soon. The important thing we have to remember is that we can’t pursue a relationship with Christ for the rewards or benefits, because sometimes, there aren’t any. We must pursue God because of God.

Paul says in Philippians 3:7-9

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

We have been trained to believe that losing is a bad thing. That enduring loss is traumatic and that we should try to avoid it at all costs. But Paul says he would gladly give up everything else just to know Christ. He would chose to throw everything else away—reputation, possessions, career, social status—just so that he could be found in Christ and covered by his righteousness. He didn’t even want a righteousness of his own because he knew it couldn’t compare to what Christ offered.

Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 that he trains with a purpose and a focused goal. He runs for the prize, but the prize is not a gold medal and international prestige, the prize is knowing Christ. Paul’s life is oriented towards Christ, and not towards the things of this world. Like Paul, then, we should train and learn and compete. We need to run the races, fight the battles, and pursue wisdom, education, and economic ventures. We need to attend church, read God’s word, and work on developing vibrant prayer lives. We need to compete with each other to hold us accountable to our goals and the faith we have committed to. But we do these things to know and praise God, not to be rewarded with ease, comfort, and earthly fame.

There is a purpose to losing and failing. It doesn’t mean our efforts are wasted, but that God is taking our hearts and molding them to be more like His. There is something greater at stake than earthly victory—eternal glory with our God. Will we trust him to take our losses and failure and turn them into something glorious?