God in the Grass

This has been their heaven lately...jumping on the trampoline in the sprinkler!

This has been my he..., um, not heaven...buckets full of grass burrs.

 And you know the Lord...He likes to speak through the pokey things in life... Do you know just how many parables He used concerning weeds and thorns?

This is the one He really wanted me to hear: The Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13, "...Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."

To explain this, the Lord said, "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the Word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

The disciples themselves had asked the Lord, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" I know why! It's because He knew that one day I would need a visual! He knew that His Word is living and that one day I would have a concrete image to associate with it!

You see, the week we were fighting the stickers, I let worries stress me out. I let things and responsibilities start to pile up and make me feel overwhelmed. For a few days, I could not see past my list, and I let the "worries of this life" start to "choke" my fruitfulness!

I have learned a lot about grass burrs. They grow in a shallow clump and often try to sneak along among the good grass. I will not be as shallow as these little devils. I will not let worldly stresses choke out my joy and make me lose sight of God's goal and God's good!

I have to share another incredible way the Lord showed His love to us in the yard through some of his faithful servants. You know how a huge tree branch fell across our yard while Josh was busy all week serving at Community Rehab? Well, we had decided that it was going to have to lay there for a few weeks simply because there was no time or energy to get it gone. Well, in a round-a-bout way, friends from church who own a tree service found out about it, came over the very next day, chopped it all up, hauled it all off, and cleaned up the tree....all for free...as their ministry during Community Rehab! It was definitely a cool drink of water during a very hot and busy time for us! Thank you, Lord, for using the Smiths to bless us!

Brenna and her lamb watching Mr. Smith cut up the remainder of the fallen tree