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| photo by Laurie Collett 2024 |
Experts in child development have said that very young
children do not particularly enjoy magic tricks because they view everything
around them as magical. The sun appears every morning, only to disappear every
evening, replacing the golden gleam of the day with the black velvet of the
night sky, bejeweled with countless tiny diamonds.
Adults, on the other hand, can become jaded, failing to see
the miracles occurring in our daily lives, or dismissing them as merely the
predictable outcome of scientific principles, and of reactions involving matter
and energy. We therefore are more likely to appreciate magic shows, in which
our beliefs about reality seem to be challenged in ways that surprise and amaze
us.
I enjoy a good magic show as one of many forms of
entertainment, particularly if it is performed with artistry and storytelling.
But when I want to see a miracle evolving before my eyes, I am blessed that I
don’t have to fly to Las Vegas and pay top dollar to see a first-rate magician.
Rather, I can just make a quick visit to the hydroponic garden in our laundry
room!
God’s creation is miraculous indeed, far surpassing any
illusion or sleight-of-hand we might experience in a theatre! How a tiny seed
can contain the genetic blueprint for a complex plant, and then quickly develop
into that plant when exposed to water, light, and a few nutrients, baffles the
imagination. But with God, all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26).
The Lord Jesus Christ created plants
and all things by the Word of His mouth (Genesis 1). He is the
Living Water (John 4:10), the Light of the world (John 8:12;
9:5), and the Bread of Life (John 6:35,48), providing
all that plants need to grow, and all that we need to grow as Christians, who
have trusted in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).
My most recent planting includes cucumbers, which astound
me with their tenacity in accomplishing their God-given purpose. They germinate
quickly, even when planted upside down! In that case, the young shoot still
pushes up defiantly from its porous support, often sporting the remains of the
seed coating like a jaunty cap!
They develop rapidly, first two undifferentiated primary
leaves, then two secondary leaves that grow into mature, prickly cucumber
leaves. Then lovely yellow flowers tilt their faces toward the light, and as
these dry up, a green, fuzzy bump appears and soon elongates into an immature
cucumber.
Meanwhile, thin tendrils spiral outward from the main stem,
fanning out in all directions looking for something to support them. In my
hydroponic garden, where various plants occupy neighboring pods, the cucumbers
need constant close supervision!
Left unchecked, the curly, sticky ends of the tendrils loop
themselves around whatever happens to be nearby – a lettuce leaf, a radish
stem, the electric cords supplying the lights, or even the lights themselves. I
marvel at their tenacity in wrapping so tightly around their neighbors, but I
have to step in and untangle them, freeing the other plants and training the
cucumber tendrils around a more suitable support, such as the pipes housing the
hydroponic pods.
Such tenacity is widespread throughout God’s creation. In
the two years since Hurricane Ian, it is reassuring to see the destroyed
vegetation rebounding at our favorite beach getaway. Tall, lush Norfolk Island
pine trees that once seemed to brush against the ceiling of heaven were felled
to the ground by nearly 200 mph gales, leaving only jagged, ugly stumps. But
these have gradually started to grow again, not nearly as tall, but at least
graced with pine boughs.
A pair of osprey had nested there for many years, only to
disappear after Ian when their home was destroyed. But recently, I have heard
their plaintive cry near their former nest, and on our most recent trip, I saw
a female perched near the top of the regrowing tree, while her mate circled
lazily in the skies above. Thanks to their resilience and tenacity, chicks will
follow soon, in the same neighborhood, if not the same nest that Ian destroyed.
It reminds me that God also endowed each of His children
with a resolve to accomplish His unique purpose for their lives. Like the
cucumbers, we too can be tenacious in clinging to various supports, some of
which are more suitable than others. Do we attempt to succeed by being overly
reliant on our neighbors, like the lettuce and radishes planted near the
cucumbers? If so, are we perhaps inadvertently choking off their growth and not
advancing our own?
What happens when our comfort zone suddenly disappears,
like the osprey nest washed away in the storm? Or even worse, when our entire
support system crumbles, like the pine trees razed to the ground? Do we turn
away from God and blame Him for our upheaval, or do we draw closer to Him in prayer and in His Word, relying on Him to sustain us no matter what our
external circumstances?
Sometimes God removes not only our blessings, but what we
believe we need to survive. Job lost his wealth, family, and health, all in
short order, yet he never cursed God (Job 2:9-10). In turn, God
rewarded His faithfulness by restoring to him what he had lost and doubling his
material wealth (Job 42:10).
Noah preached to mockers for nearly a century, following
God’s command to build an ark to withstand a global flood coming to an earth
that had never experienced rain, and God rewarded him and his family by saving
them from the deluge and appointing them to restart the human race (Genesis
5:32-10:1).
Moses graciously accepted God’s “time out,” spending years
tending sheep in the desert until God used him to lead His people out of Egypt (Exodus
3) and to the Promised Land – a journey that would take four decades of
governing a stubborn, rebellious, complaining people (Joshua 5:6).
David also spent his youth tending sheep, perhaps wondering
if God would ever use the gifts He gave him of courage, leadership, music and
poetry. Not only did God make David chief musician to King Saul and ultimately
King himself (1 Samuel 16), but He allowed him to establish his
house as perpetual ruler over Israel (Jeremiah 33:17; 1 Kings 2:45),
which in the Millennial Kingdom will culminate in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
(Luke 1:32).
The tenacity of all these heroes of the faith (Hebrews
11) is surpassed only by that of our Lord and Savior, Who left His
heavenly throne and came to earth as human flesh (John 1:14),
knowing that He was born to die to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins,
reconciling sinful man to Holy God (John 1:29). He resisted every
temptation that humanity has ever encountered, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
He endured rejection by His own people, mockery from the religious leaders of
His day, betrayal by His closest friends, and humiliation and physical
suffering at the hands of those He came to save (Matthew 26-27).
Worst of all, Jesus Christ endured momentary separation
from His Holy Father as He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
He tenaciously set His face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7) as He
viewed Jerusalem, where He would be sacrificed as a Lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah
53:7). He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy of
bringing salvation and eternal life to all who trusted Him (Hebrews 12:2).
May we follow His example of tenacity, clinging not to our
possessions, status, or power, or even to our health and relationships, but in
putting our complete faith in and reliance on Almighty God, Who alone can save,
sustain, restore and redeem us!
© 2024 Laurie Collett
