A Royal Planting

I saw the unexpected Sunday, and I can't move on. That's ironic since when I saw it I was driving by at a mere seventy miles an hour... But I keep seeing this picture in my mind. It begged an answer of me... How is this happening??? Why is this happening??? Then I argued, but why wouldn't it?? Suddenly, I was stuck in the age old question of nature vs. nurture; so give me a moment, and I'll tell you what has arrested my attention and now caused me to re-examine myself.

It was just a tree, and I am not even sure what kind of tree it was. It was about three, maybe four feet tall. It was green and growing, leaves blowing in the wind and green from the sun that was beaming down on it. It was alive, and well. The trunk of this tree was probably no bigger than a quarter's diameter, and still none of that description is what embedded its reality into my mind's eye. It had no unique quality, for it was not even alone. There were many other plants, that grew close to it, but not beside it. They each possessed their own space. These plants were of varying sizes and had produced all types of flowers, all equally magnificent to me. Not because of what they were, but for what they were doing...

This tree, all of these plantings, if indeed I thought someone actually planted then there, were on my way home from the conference I attended this weekend. As I drove down a really long stretch of I-85, somewhere in South Carolina, I noticed this concrete divider. It's the kind you see when construction is taking place on the highway, or when the north and southbound lanes are too close for comfort, or if there have been far too many accidents on a stretch of road. These concrete divider sections went on for an exceptionally long stretch of road, at least 60 miles. And it was a double, side-by-side thickness for many of those miles. I'm pretty confident you've seen this type of divider before. It' was the white concrete, rebar-enforced 4 foot tall median wall, about a foot wide at the top, each section was about 6 or so foot long. The concrete dividers had been placed on the edge of the road, not on the shoulder, not in the grass, but on top of the asphalt. One on the Northbound side, and one on the Southbound side, so if someone, somehow went through the first divider, still had enough speed to cross the median, they would hit a second divider before they could ever potentially enter oncoming traffic. How safety conscience they are in SC... I presumed... No one or thing could penetrate those barriers, they had made certain.



As I drove onward, I made note of the seemingly endless miles of this white concrete divider separated the beauty of the hills and the miles of road I was traveling. That's when I saw a weed, or so I thought. Then a flower emerged, and then several and then the tree. Not on the hillside along the highway's edge, but right up against the concrete divider, on the road. There were no holes in the asphalt, no mounds of dirt or planned areas for growth. It was just a concrete divider, and then the planting. And then there was another one, and a few moments later, another one. Each one different and each one similar. They were growing along the concrete divider with no dirt, soil or maybe very little... I couldn't shake it. As an amateur gardener, I study and try to chemically alter (manipulate) soil conditions to produce my desired outcome and there in the middle of a man made environment, with no earthly explanation for its occurence was a royal planting: any one of which I would be proud to say I grew from a seed, on a concrete and asphalt slab. So as I raced between my quasi-knowledge of gardening and my sheer amazement how God causes things to occur, I heard that voice in my mind recount "they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." Amen was my response. And again, amen. That was a planting of the Lord. Gratitude swept over me. I had seen a moment when God's created, intended purpose had been displayed and magnified to me His splendor. It was beautiful.

Since then I have tried to break down this illustration He gave me, find it natural end, and have been reminded of God's promise that "if it dies, it bears much fruit." What a shame for each of those seeds to have fallen on the inside of the concrete barrier instead of in the median where all the green grass was, and the depth of all that green southern soil... But God, in His sovereignty allowed each one of those seeds to fall onto the concrete and asphalt. Had those seeds done something to deserve their placing compared to the seeds who fell in the good soil?? And now they would never fulfill their calling, exhibit their inner beauty, because of location.. How unfair!!! But God, can't they be redeemed, even though they are not where they "ought" to be?? How many days did they lay there, broken, and alone, exposed to the elements of the road: the heat, the tires, the concrete divider, and the weather. "How many scorching hot days did it take to break through that outer shell to expose the true seed, needed for new life?? How many cold dreary rainy nights, Lord, did it take to wash onto the seed enough soil to give it nourishment???? Is that what you did with the mud droplets from speeding cars??? You created a royal planting???

Oh, thank You, Lord. Oh, how that planting has disquieted me, caused me to pause and to question my feeble excuses and attempts to rationalize my paralyzed life... How long have I waited for You to change my environment, change my personal circumstance, change everything but me, so that I can "be all that You want me to be." Thank You for showing me, revealing to me that You place us, each where you want us to be. And it is not for our glory, it is our transformation and to display your splendor. Lord, create in me a pure heart, renew a steadfast spirit in me, expose my transgressions and my infirmities and cause me to align myself anew with You. For you are my strength and my strong tower, my very present help in time of need, and I long to be like that tree on I-85, defying the world, because You can and will in us, in me. I want to be strong in You. I want to grow up into your Likeness. Cause whatever it takes to reveal your splendor in me. I seek only Your consolation, I want to be desperately dependent, and to show Your power in that. Expose my weaknesses so others can see my brokenness, but Your sufficiency. I love You and I thank you for solving nature vs. nurture for me. You create and You cause and You deserve the credit. Amen!
~Hdc

First Steps

It seems almost trite to pen those words when I am almost 40 years old now (well, in 2 1/2 years)... But, we all start the journey of believing in ourselves and what God has called us to at different points in our lives. Instead of worrying over whether I have arrived before or after "most people" do, I will just conclude that I know what I believe and that I have begun to believe what I know.

Almost immediately upon the realization that I believe what I know about God, about me, and about the world in which I live, I felt this thrust toward action... I see my faith becoming part of all my actions... You may have heard that "Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see" and I can honestly say my life is a reflection of that. "Not that I have obtained it or already have been made perfect, but I press on in order to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me! But this one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on to the goal to win the prize for God has called me..."

So many things in my life are not as they should be. As my Mother would say, "your ducks are not in a row!" I am in the middle of so many trials in which I have no control, over their outcomes or even the timing in which the trials will cease. Yet, for the first time I can remember in my Heart Walk with God, I believe /have faith / trust and am walking in that belief-- REGARDLESS of my present circumstance. It is liberating and exhilarating, empowering and humbling, all at the same time...

So let me close this with a huge praise to our God for first steps... of all kinds!!!

Hdc