by Jon Bloom
The man at Home Depot said I had to choose between having kids and having a yard.
I have five kids. And our friends next door have five kids. Inner-city living means that most of the biking, digging, running, building, light saber wars and ball games occur inside the fenced confines of our little yard.
Choice made, I guess.
Spring’s advent has resurrected my fantasy of a lush, well-kept lawn with trimmed bushes, weeded flowerbeds, and drainpipes that don’t get stamped flat. That’s what I want: beauty and order and peace.
But my yard is not beautiful and orderly. Being long on kids and short on time, it’s a mess. About 30% of my lawn is now dirt. There are toys scattered around, winter-blown trash in the corners, overgrown hedges, weedy beds, and a neglected garden. There are holes under the front fence dug by a dog pining for freedom. There’s a planter the dog broke by the front step still sitting in two pieces. That’s what I’m used to seeing: my yard’s deficiencies.
Yesterday during my prayer time I was walking through my disordered yard, feeling my grumbling rising, when suddenly I saw it all as a picture of me. . . .
I long for a well-kept life full of beauty and order and peace. But I have trash in my corners, weeds in my garden, and overgrown bushes. Much activity has left barren places. I’m not beautiful and orderly. I’m in many ways a mess. That’s what I’m used to seeing: my deficiencies. My little gratitude betrays how little of grace I see.
And then I looked closely at a lilac flower just coming into bloom. And it preached to me: “Consider the [lilacs], how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke 12:27). Have you only eyes to see your ugly sin and defects? Can you not see the God-made beautiful things that are growing? Look for grace, Jon!
Then I looked at a barren spot and it was teaming with ant-life. And it preached to me: “Go to the ant… consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6). Not all barrenness is lifeless. Look closely. There is wisdom to be found.
Then I looked at the sun soaking my city with life-giving light. And it preached to me: “In your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
What are you seeing today? (Clue: your gratitude or grumbling will tell you.) Look! Look for grace!
