Matthew 6:25-34

I've become a gardener since moving here to Mazatlan. I'm still learning, but one of the projects we have undertaken here is assessing the sustainability of small, residential gardens. So, we have been growing cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans since mid-March. At one point, it looked like the only thing we were going to have produce fruit were the tomato plants. You see, a giant lizard got into our garden space and was eating the delicious leaves off of everything except for the tomatoes. Apparently, when lizards are desperate for food, they will eat vegetation. We did whatever we could to save those plants- concocted homemade pesticide remedies, ripped out thorn bushes to secure the fence better, covered cracks in the floor with mix&pour cement. It seemed like they were gone for good. One week they looked like this:

A few weeks later, this:

 

The plants looked dead for weeks, like they would continue to shrivel and die. But, then they started sprouting tiny leaves... and now, they have life in them again. This got me thinking... If God would revive and bring back these plants, how much more will He do for me?? He has adopted me as His own. I am a daughter of the Most High. This is Matthew 6:25-34 displayed in my life. And I am awestruck.

The misfortunes of being an adult...

Here's a letdown that's been in the back of my mind a lot lately...

Remember the days when you were a kid and you just couldn't wait to be an adult? Thinking about all of the things you couldn't do then that you would be able to do someday... like see R-rated movies, buy cigarettes, vote, move out, buy alcohol, get married, make a life for yourself...

The things you didn't think about, though, were that we are not perfect people. As much as we screwed up as kids and learned from it, we would still screw up as adults. We will still make mistakes even when we're older. The only thing is... mistakes are a whole lot messier when you're an adult than when you're a kid.

Adult relationships usually involve more of a commitment- marriage and/or kids, sometimes just years and years of being together. That makes breaking up more devastating than losing your first love. A lot of times if there are not kids involved, there are at least pets. And it's even tragic for them to witness and go through the separation.

Quitting a job you hate has more magnitude than quitting a sport or activity you hated. Because now, as an adult, you have bills to worry about and rent/house payments, you have to buy groceries, gas prices are more than twice what they were when you started driving- and let's face it, our parents were totally right when they said, "Money doesn't grow on trees..."

And however you left your last job and your performance will effect your ability to get a new job. You need your past employers to be the references for you, to prove that you will do a good job. And the job market is so tight right now, everyone is fighting for work. You can't just easily quit and decide to do something different, like how you quit taking piano lessons so you would have more time for soccer.

No, the mistakes and the choices we make as adults have greater consequence than we ever could have imagined as little kids. And the repercussions as a result are more overwhelming than anything we have experienced.

Here's the beautiful part: God is sovereign and full of grace. Those two words are used in church and by religious people a lot, so let's break down what that actually means. Sovereignty is having supreme power, rank or authority. That means God has the right to do whatever he wants. Grace is goodwill or favor- something that is not necessarily deserved. So with God, this means he is full of forgiving mercy to cover our imperfections and our mistakes.

Even though we are adults and therefore not supposed to make mistakes, God is there to cover our tragic messes and forgive us. And this is where the sovereignty kicks in- he could do whatever he wants, but he uses the failures to show us how much we need him. Despite the fact that getting older has more downsides than young Lisa could have imagined, it's a very beautiful letdown indeed.

Why do we entertain tempting thoughts which are contrary to God's Word and God's will? Let's face it- we do so because we want to. We're not tempted by foods we don't like, by unattractive members of the opposite sex, by unwanted promotions, etc. Temptation's hook is the devil's guarantee that what we think we want and need outside of God's will can satisfy us. Don't believe it. You can never satisfy the desires of your flesh. Instead, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). Only sustaining right relationships, living by the power of the Holy Spirit, and experiencing the fruit of the Spirit will satisfy you.

--Neil T. Anderson,  The Bondage Breaker, p.135
Quoted in Cynthia Heald's Becoming a Woman of Freedom