At Least There Is Hope

For many years, I worked in greenhouses and there was nothing quite like gardening inside where the rain didn't make me wet or cold and the smell of the plants and soil in the warm environment was almost intoxicating.  My favorite part was the propagation of plants either from seeds, cuttings, grafting or division.  The new birth of seeds breaking the ground or the callus forming before the roots, or the bud breaking on the scion wood of a grafted tree was wonderful.  Raising those plants from then on was work to me.


That may be the best picture of my personality, however, with age I have been more patient with the watering, feeding, pruning of plants and people.  Even in my career I knew I was less of a maintainer than an initiator; a pioneer rather than a manufacturer.  And yet I find myself continuing to cultivate the relationships that are meaningful over years and decades.

When I write, I ask God what I should write and where I should go with it.  I rarely have a plan of my own, but He is faithful to show up with the thought for the moment. He understands that throughout generations, man has been dependent on plants for food; even though we may get our food at the grocery store, those plants still are grown and produce a crop from which we eat.


He had Isaiah pen these words:
"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations."  Isaiah 61:11 NIV

As creator of not only the world we live in, but also Another Kingdom, the Sovereign LORD causes all nature to sing and cry out praise of His magnificence.  Unfortunately, some people worship creation and the things in it rather than worshiping the Creator.  They have somewhat effectively denied in their minds that there is a God of Creation because they don't want to be subject to Him.  (That is until they are hit with disaster and pray to God for help.)  

I have seen those hypocrites and that reminds me I recently read an article about the Paris Underground that talks of the cataphiles, who venture to the catacombs to escape the surface.  There in the depths below Paris, there are no rules (except to be down there is illegal if caught), no expectations, no work; so drugs, parties, "freedom" exists in the tunnels of sewage, human remains, rats, graffiti painted walls and discarded needles.  Here is just one article you can dial into complete with great pictures:  http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/paris-underground/shea-text

"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more."  Job 14:7-10 NIV

I have watched my share of trees being cut down only to see it sprout again and seeds die only to sprout; and plants wither away only to be refreshed by water and the roots sprout again.  Job, one of the earliest authors in the Book (the Bible), understood this about plants, and about mortal man, himself included.  We humans are still only created beings with our very breath a gift for God, Who Created man to begin with.  We exist at His pleasure. We only live once on this earth and where our soul spends the rest of eternity awaits our decision.