How can anyone call them weeds? We were out one evening deciding where to set up the garden and I saw the cutest little daisies. Without hesitation, my husband deemed them weeds. We didn’t agree on the garden location or the ‘flowers’ that evening.
A beautiful morning and some semblance of a plan provided another opportunity to plan out our garden. My breath was taken mid-sentence when I spotted a large patch of daisies. These lovelies, with their puffy yellow centers & slender white petals topping long green stems were a must-have for my kitchen island so hubby went to the shed for the clippers. Happy wife, happy life!
Grabbing a handful of these ‘non-weeds’ he cut them with all the tenderness of a battlefield soldier. When I asked that he be careful of the little ones he turned my attention to the field. In each direction I looked there were patches white with flowers ready to be picked. They wouldn’t be there for long though. Hay cutting time is approaching and all hope for any remaining daisies would soon vanish.
A Greater Harvest
My mind ran to another field. Jesus and His disciples went to Galilee by way of Samaria. The disciples went for food and Jesus remained there, seated by the well. Approaching the well to draw water, the Samaritan woman was shocked that Jesus spoke to her, even commenting that the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. In that day the Jews saw the Samaritans as the off-scouring of the world…like human weeds. Jesus continued His dialogue with her; revealing her story and talking with her about living water, true worship and the Messiah.
The disciples returned and though they said nothing, they too marveled that Jesus spoke with this woman. She ran into the village and told the men all what she heard saying, John 4:29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Many in that city believed in Him. Jesus told His disciples John 4:35 “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! Jesus wasn’t referring to fields of flowers or crops. The field is the world and the harvest is people. Jesus broke through cultural barriers and the disciples learned a valuable lesson that would impact their future ministry. Just think, the disciples could have missed the opportunity.
How About You
Have you allowed prejudice to keep you from being kind, showing compassion or sharing your faith with someone? Have you written someone off because of ‘how’ they were without ever seeing ‘who’ they were? Did you ever forego an opportunity thinking you’d do it later, only to find that later never came? I can say yes to all of these. Maybe you (like me) need to pray a simple prayer: Lord help me see people as you see them and take the opportunity to share your love with them. And for the love of all that’s holy, help me never deem anyone unworthy of grace.
God bless you and keep you,
Roxanne
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. ® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
I bring good news! The marigolds are in. After a season of barren trees, flowerless planters and brown grass, I long to look out my kitchen window and see the cheery colorful blooms of marigolds. You can imagine my opening the sale paper of our local nursery to find these little lovelies on the front page. My flower-loving heart was overjoyed! Well, it was. My husband once asked if we needed to plant so many marigolds. In a word…yes!
As much as I enjoy the flowers, I really enjoy tomatoes. I was disappointed to find that there were not very many tomatoes though. Just behind the flowers, I found a bunch of tiny green tomatoes shaded from the much needed sun. I realized that something was going to be sacrificed that day and I wasn’t pleased. The solution came with the answer to one simple question, “What are you growing here?” Since I was growing tomatoes and the marigolds became detrimental to them, the marigolds had to go. It was that simple.
Hopefully Devoted 