What Is God Doing?
Author Rebecca Britt, Oregon
A few years ago, my daughter and son-in-law
purchased a mildew ridden shack on about two thirds acre of land. Along with
these lovely amenities came a hundred years worth of garbage buried within a
hill of dirt. That first spring, when the ground was dry enough, we started
digging. And digging. And digging.
With shovels. By hand. Even
with gloves on, we were cut, scratched, and eewwed
(as in icky gooey) upon by a miniature land fill from Hades.
Untold numbers of wheel barrow loads of every
imaginable kind of trash netted at least four commensurate truck loads to be
hauled away. Add to this a few tons of rock; I even rented a jack hammer to
pound off a sizable portion of boulder; and two years later the task is
finished; we thought. Unbeknownst to us, rock floats. It rises anew every year
among the forested hills bordering the Columbia River, forty miles inland from
the coast.
So how does my Abba fit into this little
slice of history? What is He doing? It took a couple years to remove the
garbage from the ground around the house. He's been shoveling like crazy in the
garden of my soul for decades. Garbage, rocks, you name it, it's
in there. What bugs me, and it should, is that not only does garbage float but
so do the rocks. And yes, He had to take a jack hammer to me on more than one
occasion. Frankly, I've learned (and I mean the hard way) to be grateful. One
of the most liberating lessons is the fact that His chastisement is a kindness.
Father God truly is a Master gardener. I was pondering John chapter 15. Jesus is teaching
that He is the vine, we are the branches, and the Father is the vine dresser.
"So, where is the Holy Spirit in all
this?" I asked.
I immediately got the answer. "He's
the sap."
I so got it. With all the pruning going
on, that sap covers the wounds and brings healing. Sap is the life blood of the
plant and promotes and sustains fruit.
This may seem simplistic to some, profound
to others. It is both to me. God is wholly organic. I will never run out of
things for which to thank and praise Him.
May we all give as we have received with
great joy and seasoned with humility.
May His grace continually abound to all who
are in Christ.
Rebecca
Feather
and Ink
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