God's Stories in My Backyard

In Matthew 13, Jesus told a number of parables, which some people call stories. Jesus' disciples asked Him why He was telling stories about farmers, birds, merchants, fishermen, and such common things. His response was that some people were ready to hear from God, some were not, and that the stories helped prepare people for insight and understanding.

Jesus often relates that the stories in Matthew are like the Kingdom. Looking over His parables in chapter 13, there are reports of farmers who have to wait to pull enemy-sown thistles until the final harvest. There is a story of a great tree, that comes from a quite small and unimpressive seed. Another parable says the Kingdom is like yeast stirred into bread mix: there's a time of waiting and warming before the final product is ready for the next step. Another time Jesus tells His hearers that the Kingdom is like a jeweler, who sells everything else he has when he finds the perfect pearl.

There is a lot to absorb from these stories... does the thistle story help us understand why God doesn't deal directly with bad people right now? Does the small seed story mean that much of God's work in our world will come from unnoticed small starts, here and there? Maybe the yeast (leaven) example is God's way of reminding us that many good things require a time of maturing. The jewelry story may show us that when God found us lost and straying, He sold off His Greatest Prize, in order to buy us for Himself.

I can't help notice and be reminded of what professional landscapers have told me about some of our plants and shrubs, and believe that God has stories going on in my backyard! There are different and important times for pruning and dethatching some of our landscaping. Hydrangeas "bloom on old wood", so I know to leave some of those unsightly stalks standing. When trimming the beautiful OakLeaf Hydrangea, I was careful to remove only the dead bloom stems, for the new buds were evident, inches away!

Crepe Myrtles come in 100's of variations, and in our area they are seen trimmed in 100's of ways. I do it by hand, cutting back to certain joints. Some workers say liriope should be trimmed every January with a weedeater... others applaud my December method of running over it with the mower and bagger every few years!!

What is MOST interesting to me is: already, though our winter season has hardly begun at this writing, a number of both the ground vegetation, shrubs, and trees have already "set the buds" for the spring blooming. In other words, my metereological advisors are warning me that winter is ahead.... but God, Master Gardener, is telling me through my own backyard that HE IS PREPARING and PLANNING FOR SPRING!!! I find that a pretty positive approach, no matter what the economy or weather, and I think I'll adopt it as often as I can in my thinking...