My mom is an avid gardener. When the beds are clean with perfectly groomed edges and not a weed in sight, she is in her happy place. So when her hip surgeries were going to prevent her from maintaining her perfectly manicured yard for pretty much an entire summer, she ensured that not a single weed was present before she went under the knife. I'm positive she said a prayer or two against their swift uprising as well. Imagine her disappointment when she realized that one of her gardens was already sprouting little green enemies the very first time she looked at it post-surgery.
What actually IS a weed? According to Wikipedia, it is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance. Which is why we have toddlers generously gracing their mothers with bouquets of dandelions every summer. One person's weed is another's beautiful flower. I've had many weeds in my life that I've adamantly asked God to remove. My back injury was one huge unwanted pest in my life. But I think God sometimes views these nuisances a little differently than we do. And He knows the outcomes of these trials when we will long be blind to them. As we read in 1 Peter 5:10 - And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.". God knew that my back injury sucked big time for me. That it kept me from doing what I thought I should be doing. But He also knew that it would bring me to a new, deeper relationship with Him and send me on a new path in my life. It would make me strong, firm and steadfast. The injury may have started out as a weed, but over the course of a year, became a beautiful rose; I just had to get past the thorns.
What actually IS a weed? According to Wikipedia, it is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance. Which is why we have toddlers generously gracing their mothers with bouquets of dandelions every summer. One person's weed is another's beautiful flower. I've had many weeds in my life that I've adamantly asked God to remove. My back injury was one huge unwanted pest in my life. But I think God sometimes views these nuisances a little differently than we do. And He knows the outcomes of these trials when we will long be blind to them. As we read in 1 Peter 5:10 - And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.". God knew that my back injury sucked big time for me. That it kept me from doing what I thought I should be doing. But He also knew that it would bring me to a new, deeper relationship with Him and send me on a new path in my life. It would make me strong, firm and steadfast. The injury may have started out as a weed, but over the course of a year, became a beautiful rose; I just had to get past the thorns.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for God to take away illness or pain; what I am saying that if He's not quick to remove those things, He just may have a bigger better purpose for these things in our lives. Today's weed could be a promise for tomorrow's blooming garden! We just need to learn to trust the master gardener a little more ;-)
Oh....and those "weeds" my mom discovered after her surgery? Well, see the picture? lol. They turned out to be beautiful white edging flowers. My aunts transplanted them to various gardens around our property later that summer and let's just say, they've grown like "weeds" and made a beautiful covering for mom's neglected beds.
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