Wanda and I went for our first bicycle ride of the season recently. We like to ride our bikes, but we like it to be warm outside when we do. We’ve had some warm days, but it seems like every time we’ve had one we’ve either been out of town or did not have time to go for a ride. Now, we finally were able to do it.
As we rode, we went past a yard that had evergreen trees. Around the evergreen trees were a lot of dead evergreen needles. That brought back memories for us.
As you know, before we came here, we were in North Sioux City. The yard of the parsonage in North Sioux City has a lot of evergreen trees, which means it also has a lot of dead evergreen needles. Unfortunately, when we got there, the yard had not been raked for quite some time. That means that, over most of the yard, all you could see was a fairly thick mat of dead, brown evergreen needles. It was kind of overwhelming, and kind of depressing.
Well, Wanda and I went to work and started raking. We raked and raked. We filled lots of garbage bags full of dead evergreen needles. It took us quite a few weeks, working an hour or so a day, to get the whole yard done.
When we raked, though, we discovered something we did not expect. Underneath that mat of dead, brown evergreen needles there was some live, green grass. Despite everything, it was able to grow. Once we got the evergreen needles off that grass, and it could get some sunlight and rain, it grew even better. I’m not going to say our lawn was ever perfect, but eventually it got to where it didn’t look just too bad.
Sometimes our lives can be like that yard in North Sioux City. The problems of life can drop on us like dead, brown evergreen needles. If we don’t do anything about them, those problems can seem so heavy and thick on us that all we or anyone else can see are those problems. Those problems can seem overwhelming, as well as being depressing to us.
If we turn to God, though, God can start helping us clear those problems away. Then, we can discover, sometimes to our surprise, that there’s still a lot of good in ourselves and in life. Once the problems start getting cleared away, we can start to feel the power of God and the warmth of God’s love. Then, we can discover even more of the goodness that exists in us and in life. Our lives may not turn out to be perfect, but eventually they may turn out to not be too bad. In fact, they may turn out to be pretty good.
No matter how overwhelmed we may get by life and life’s problems, God is always there. When we turn to God and rely on God’s power and God’s love, amazing things can happen.
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