Lessons from planting flowers
Kaylee is at such an awesome age. She will be 4 years old next month and she is at that fun inquisitive age where she wants to be very creative and crafty. Her newest thing was Erin and her planted flowers in our backyard. They planted some sunflower seeds, because Kaylee loves the big yellow ones that look like sunshine as she calls them. They also planted some other flowers in little pots. Every morning one of the first things I hear as the blinds are opened to reveal the outside is Erin saying, “Look Kaylee the flowers have gotten bigger”, which is followed by laughter and excitement as she runs to the door to see.
What I learned is that Kaylee has an expectant excitement every morning that those flowers are going to grow. She believes they are going to do exactly what God created them to do. She doesn’t doubt it, she believes they are going to grow because that is what they were designed to do.
So that seems simple to some and it should because it is simple. It is simple child like faith. When Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15) He reminded us that we are to have that child like faith. The problem is instead of having a faith like that, I choose complicated, hard, structured faith, were if I don’t spend time with God I use it as a license to struggle the rest of the day since I have already screwed up. God reminded me today as I was thinking about Kaylee and those flowers that every morning I need to arise with an expectation that I am going to grow that day. I am going to grow more in my love for God, grow more as a husband, father, minister, friend, and lover of God’s word and His people. If I could arise with that expectation then getting into God’s word becomes easy, spending intimate time with Him in prayer and worship is just natural. Serving people is just what you do as an outflow of who God is and what He is doing in your life.
So I thank my wife and daughter for planting flowers, they did it because they love to look at them, God used it to remind me that I am planted in Him and because of that I am expected to grow and be the beautiful reflection of Him I was created to be. John 15 teaches this brilliantly about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. We have to stay connected to the vine or we wither and die. I want to stay connected to my true life source! Hope that encourages someone today as much as it wrecked me and helped remind me who I am and whose I am.
