Outside my back door, hanging from the awning, are two
birdfeeders. I have given up on using them as birdfeeders, they
are just decorations. Even though they both have lids, the seeds
still get wet, and become a solid mass. The seeds will not come
out the bottom so the birds can get them. I have a hanging
flowerpot there as well, and after the flowers died, and the
snows started, I turned it into a birdfeeder. I just poured the
birdseed on the dirt! Of course, you know what happened in the
spring. Some of the seeds started to grow. Well, the birds
didn't need the seeds now, and I'm a lazy person anyway, so I
didn't pull the weeds out of the pot, and I'm glad I didn't.
As an aside; there is plenty for birds to eat in spring, and
summer, but I still give them, heels of bread, (we don't like
them,) stale bread, buns, cookies, cake, and cornbread. Birds
seem to like cornbread the best. They eat that first!
Now back to the weeds. I'm happy they are growing where I can
see them out my back door, when I am sitting in my dining room.
Where I sit most of the time when I'm not working on the
computer.
What I see in these weeds is the Wonder of God! The seeds were
not planted into the soil, but their will to survive was so
strong that they started growing with very shallow roots!
Compare that to a new Christian taking their first weak step of
faith by being baptized. They both have the determination, and
desire to become all that God intended them to be!
These weeds grew into a nice green broadleaf grass. The blades,
being flexible, were able to bend with the flow of the wind, and
so were able to weather the storms. Do you go with the flow, and
weather the storms, or do you lose your temper, and break under
the weight of adversity?
The tall blades of grass arched over in an arc, and reminded me
of rainbows, and rainbows make me think of the promises of God.
Now that fall is here, the weed is changing color. It is a
pinkish yellow. It has a bloom of sorts. The bloom is a
greenish white, soft, fuzzy, elongated, thing with seeds in it.
This is the power of God's creativity showing. When you finish
one goal, there will be another!
The weed is not dead yet. Some of the blades are turning red.
Proving that even in dying there is beauty if you have done your
job well.
When it dries up, and becomes brittle, I will pull it out, and
put it in my garden where it will be plowed under to become food
for my tomatoes next year. Then I will put birdseed in the pot
again through the winter. Thereby starting the cycle all over
again.
A related story: There was a vine growing in my rose bush. I
pulled most of it out, but where it did not interfere with the
rose bush, I let it grow. On the side I pulled out, it could
only have grown as high as the rose bush, and trellis, but on the
other side, it found the drainpipe on the side of the garage.
There it grew all the way to the roof! I didn't know what it was
until it bloomed. It had a very pleasant sweet smell. It was
Honeysuckle! Sometimes in life we are uprooted, or blocked from
taking a path we are on that we thought was the best one for us,
and we wonder why. We may even get angry, and discouraged, and
want to give up! But, look around; there is a fork in the road.
We take the other path, and it leads to more success, and we
enjoy it more than we did the other one. It's Honeysuckle!
They say take time to stop, and smell the roses, and that, we
should, but maybe we should take a closer look at some weeds too!
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