Friends of mine put out a huge garden every year, but they usually live pretty far north, so they start the seeds in those peat pots. Trays and trays of peat pots will be on the floor in a sunny location, waiting for the soil and air to be warm enough for outside planting. Each row or tray has a little flag, like a popsicle stick, that identifies it as this or that plant-to-be. Well, one year their two year old thought those little flags looked like they would be fun to play with, so she took them all out, across the room, and played with them on the floor. By the time her parents discovered what had happened there was absolutely no way to know which row or tray had given up which flags. They didn't know it at the time, but she had also moved some of the pots around. When the time came they planted the pots, and waited with more anticipation than usual to see what would come up in each space. I was thinking about this the other day as I drove through the countryside, watching little leaves pop their heads above the soil and head to the sun. Now, I've been around here long enough to have a reasonable expectation of what those little leaves will be, but for a few weeks, when they are just the barest hint of green, it is fun to wonder what they might become.
I think the same thing when I see little babies. We don't know what they will become. It's fun to watch them as they grow and begin to assert themselves and their own interests. As that happens we can begin to see the possibilities of who they will be in the years to come. We will soon be leaving a community in which we have lived for 9 years. In my entire life that is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. Four young people who will be entering their Senior year in High School were entering 3rd grade when we arrived. Their siblings are two years behind. Babies are finishing elementary school. Over the years we and their parents have entrusted the school, the community, and the church to assist them as they grew, and I will be interested to see what happens in the years to come. We, and these young people, have one more resource to get us through and help us become the best we can. God in Jesus Christ, through the leading of the Holy Spirit will be with us all, even when we turn away, even when we are unaware, even when that leading goes in directions we never expected. And in that we can relax and move into our own futures
Loving God, you birth us, you nurture us, you teach us, you challenge us, you lead us, you help us find our way out of sticky situations we've gotten ourselves into. You send your Spirit to console us, to encourage us, to show us the path, and lead us to your saving grace. As we continue to walk through our lives reassure us that no matter what happens we are never alone, and that you will help us to grow into the people you need and want us to be.......Amen.
I think the same thing when I see little babies. We don't know what they will become. It's fun to watch them as they grow and begin to assert themselves and their own interests. As that happens we can begin to see the possibilities of who they will be in the years to come. We will soon be leaving a community in which we have lived for 9 years. In my entire life that is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. Four young people who will be entering their Senior year in High School were entering 3rd grade when we arrived. Their siblings are two years behind. Babies are finishing elementary school. Over the years we and their parents have entrusted the school, the community, and the church to assist them as they grew, and I will be interested to see what happens in the years to come. We, and these young people, have one more resource to get us through and help us become the best we can. God in Jesus Christ, through the leading of the Holy Spirit will be with us all, even when we turn away, even when we are unaware, even when that leading goes in directions we never expected. And in that we can relax and move into our own futures
Loving God, you birth us, you nurture us, you teach us, you challenge us, you lead us, you help us find our way out of sticky situations we've gotten ourselves into. You send your Spirit to console us, to encourage us, to show us the path, and lead us to your saving grace. As we continue to walk through our lives reassure us that no matter what happens we are never alone, and that you will help us to grow into the people you need and want us to be.......Amen.
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