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| Photo by Catherine Castle |
“Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee.” 2
Chronicles 19:3
We’ve been traveling a lot this summer to various locations
across the United States. As we sped down the grey strip of highway on our last
trip to Missouri, I couldn’t help but notice the wildflowers along the road brightening
the green landscape. White Queen Anne’s lace frosted the hollows, and waving
green stems dotted with tiny blue and yellow flowers covered the edge of the road.
Plate-sized white blooms, resembling hibiscus, trailed over fences and climbed corn
stalks, obviously weeds to the farmers and very out of place in the gigantic
corn fields sporting yellow tassels.
I couldn’t identify the weedy blue and yellow wildflowers,
but I know they, along with the Queen Anne’s lace, are not things most
gardeners cultivate in their gardens. In fact, we try to eradicate such things
from our home landscapes. Yet, all these flowers are beautiful in drifts along
the road and I love to look at them.
Like a gardener who wants an immaculately groomed flowerbed,
God couldn’t tolerate the weeds of sin in his garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve
disobeyed and blighted the landscape with sin, God yanked them out of his
unspoiled garden and tossed them outside the fence. Even though they were no longer
inside the boundaries of the garden gates, God still saw Adam’s and Eve’s, and
ultimately our, potential for beauty. Through Christ’s sacrifice, He provided a
way for us all to become part of his garden once again.
As I admired the weedy, flower-filled berms and hollows
along the roadway, I whispered a “Thank you,” to God for being able to see the
beauty of weeds in bloom. Because, except for the grace of God, I am only a
weed along the roadside, waiting for a home in a perfect garden of Eden.
