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My wife, Diane, loves plants, both indoor and outdoor varieties. We have flower pots scattered throughout our home, and even now on my back patio table, there are no fewer than 8 pots sitting on top with everything from sprouting herbs and strawberries to daisies, sunflowers, and apple trees! At the front of our house and on our back deck, there are several larger planters that are filled with wildflowers that were sown back in the spring.
The planters near our front door sit on a bed of small landscaping rocks, and when my wife sprinkled wildflower seeds into those pots, she wasn’t aware that the wind had grabbed many of the seeds and scattered them away from their intended home. Weeks later, we began to see plants growing up from the rocks, many of which I thought were weeds. Diane, on the other hand, knew exactly what they were as she lovingly swatted my hand away from plucking them out.
Over time, the flowers shot up and eventually flourished in a potpourri of colors and varieties, not only in the planters but also throughout the rocks. It amazed me how those teeny-weeny seeds, some as small as a pinhead, could take root, when to me it seemed that they shouldn’t have grown at all from lack of soil, water, and any direct sunlight.
This flowery event brought to mind the words of Jesus when He reminds us that we should not worry about the needs in our lives and that, just like the wild flowers in my yard that do not fuss about how they will grow, God provides for us and blesses us according to his plan and purpose: “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28 NIV)
I openly admit that there are times when worry takes over my thoughts, stripping me of the peace that God genuinely wants me to experience through my saved-by-grace faith in Jesus Christ. It’s during those times that I would far rather trade the labor or spin part of life for trust and peace. Do you need to trust God more and yourself less, like me?
Further down in that same chapter of Matthew, verse 34, Jesus tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
That’s divinely wise advice, and though I realize it’s often easier said than done, I’m still fine with trying my darndest to let God take the reigns in my life and grow me into someone who can’t get there on his own. Together, how about we allow Jesus to be the rock that we set our roots into—that we strive to not worry about tomorrow when today is really all we have.
Paul Smyth
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