I found this old blog draft that I wrote over two years ago. It was good to think about it again. I was encouraged. When we invest in life, in lives, it matters, whether we get to reap the benefits or not.
Thoughts on Asparagus and Life
Is everything we do really for someone else?
I have been pondering this, wondering if it’s true...it sure feels like it these days. I have moved quite a few times. There’s an excitement in changing places. I get inspired to plant flowers, paint rooms, decorate...but as the years have gone by and I get more moves under my belt I have been more hesitant to do these things. It’s a lot of work. I invest a lot of time, energy and dreams into these projects. Bits of me are getting sprawled out across the globe and I’m not sure if I like the feeling. I have begun to wonder if it’s worth it. Spring has finally come to our place. It’s beautiful and glorious. And, true to the pattern of our 20 years of married life, our family is prayerfully considering yet another relocation. We’ve actually made it nearly 6 years (though we did change homes in the same town, half way through) which is a record for us. It’s been especially sad to walk around and look at all the growing things around our house.
My asparagus planted last year is coming up nicely now, and providing enough for a meal.
The strawberries I planted last year are covered with beautiful white blooms and little hard green berries.
Ground covers that, last year, didn’t look full of promise, are coming up lush and beautiful. 
I feel like I’ve been here before...many times. I dare to plant Asparagus, putting it off, because I don't know if I’ll be around to enjoy it. Finally, I do...only to find that I’m really passing it on to someone else. (Someone who may or may not even LIKE it!). I wait to paint the kid’s rooms, because I think, what if we move in a year, or two. Now, I imagine a new family coming in, only to paint over the girls' beloved corn-yellow and squash-orange walls.
All this pondering has caused me to begin to wonder if perhaps everything that we’re part of really is, in the end, for someone else. But maybe there’s a way to think about this, so that it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and perhaps there is even a great truth here, that I’m discovering that might fundamentally change the way I think and process change.
Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. I Cor. 3:5 - 9
************************
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. -Heb. 12:12-13
These verses and their context (the Hall of faith - Heb. 11) seem to imply that there are people coming behind us, people for whom our lives matter and are affected. And there are people that have gone before us....”a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith” (12:1)” the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.(12:23)
All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. -Heb. 11:13
"perhaps everything that we’re part of really is, in the end, for someone else." Wow. Now that's a mind-rearranging sort of thought. I'm glad you re-discovered this post. Thanks Heather!
ReplyDelete