Check the seed before pulling the weed!

OOPS…

That’s not an atypical comment in my gardening prowess. 

To begin with, there are only a few good things I can say about weeds, one of which is that they afford me at least a little exercise outside in the fresh air. I have some definite work to accomplish in that area, and with a bit of concerted effort, I should make some headway in today’s June morning.  But every once in awhile I’ll be out for something else and a particular unwelcomed green thing will catch my eye and up it will come.

I’m not well-versed in weed identification; if something is emerging where I didn’t plant it, it grows at its own peril.  Such was the case yesterday after coming home from church.  My eye targeted a shoot that didn’t belong, a seeming invader among my tender herbs and cukes.  Oh, the hubris of such an alien!  How dare this offensive intruder bury his tentacles into my soil, (such as it was…), gorging his rogue self on the much needed nutrients intended for my other dearies!  I did what any note-worthy gardener would do without thinking!!  I plucked it up by the root!

Oops…

The seedling still bore the seed, and the “seed” was none other than a newly forming pecan tree.  I couldn’t bare to waste such a precious resource, so even though the roots had been stripped bare, I hurriedly repented of my rashness by finding what I could in container and fresh dirt, water and sun, in the hopes that my mistake would nonetheless be forgiven. 

You see, God sent me a gift, and I thought it was a weed!

Right, plenty of analogies to glean from that, but interestingly Pastor L. had just that morning been teaching on some of the different gifts that God graciously gives His people for the building up of His garden, the Church.  God, in His wisdom, gives us various lenses through which we process life, and no one (NO ONE) has it all, thus we need each other, as frustratingly difficult as that may seem:

The one with “mercy” (grace) needs the one with the “prophetic” (truth) needs the one with “service” (what to do) needs the one with “teaching” (how to do it) needs the one with “leadership” (organization)…and so on.  We’re all supposed to grow and flourish in the same garden, allowing for the cross-pollination of each gift for the whole.

Of course, it gets uncomfortable.  Mercy see Prophetic growing next to her and plucks him out, only to realize (sometimes a bit late) that the balance was a necessary part.  Service is ready to rush out, impatient with Teaching, who wants everything done decently and in order.  And Leadership, well, they can just be a pain.

Mainly because the lens is set to a different filter, one which God Himself designed:

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing…

My new little pecan seems happy in it’s new home, despite the rough treatment of yesterday’s mishap.  I think I’m forgiven.  I’ll even share with it some of today’s garden food the gives “miraculous growth”. 

Ephesians 4:16  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.