Devotionals
Watching the grass grow
A wise and sageous gentleman was once asked why he sat for hours on an afternoon in a field all by himself. He responded, simply, “I am watching the grass grow”. Taking this as advice, I decided to sit myself down on a brisk autumn afternoon in a secluded spot and seek to discover what was such a curiosity to be found in growing grass.
While my time allocated was nothing near to the hours of my African brother, I did set my eyes to behold the grasses of my surrounding field. Indeed, I was doubting within myself that any wonder of note could be found in watching grass grow. For one thing, it takes too long (although it seems to grow all too fast in my own garden during warm, moist summer days when I must trim it on a regular basis). After all, it is only grass, and grass is grass, or is it?
Since I had set my hand to the plan of this task, I decided to look more closely. I saw grass, and then more grass. But soon I saw more clearly that the first blades were low to the ground, almost growing underneath a second type of blade. The lower grasses were of a broader, darker green leaf and the grasses above were more erect, those which would be more easily cut. And of that second type there were several varieties. Some had thin, wispy stems growing in small clusters about the garden while the other stuff was more widespread with a broader blade of sturdier construction.
Underneath all of the greenery I saw on top was the brown mat of dead or dying plant. This seemed to intertwine everything else. It was this thickish mat that seemed to give the turf its soft, cushiony, almost springy feel. If it was the low down grass of the past or the upright grass stems not bowed underneath I could not tell. But I was almost certain that it was this brown mass below, either dead or dying, that gave life to the greenery above that I commonly know as grass. They needed one another to exist. Together they were “grass” and apart, well I suppose they would just be specimens in a lab of some sort.
Then I noticed the colors of the “green” around me. Green indeed! There were more greens than I could count. Rich verdant earthy greens, shimmering lively silvery greens, even greens changing shades from one part of a leaf to another. The grass and the garden were both green, but each was a green of its own and each plant and tree in the garden seemed to be seeking to redefine the meaning of the word “green” on its own. I simply gave up trying to name the varieties in my mind for it was beyond me.
I was, in actual fact, seated in my spot for only a portion of an hour, not the hours of an afternoon or the days of a week that my mentor on this journey had taken. Yet in these minutes I began to discern that which had eluded my perception and senses for all of the years and decades I had previously walked in gardens, stepped upon the grass and seen the green.
I sat in awe and wonder. My eyes were being opened to see the beauty that was all around me that I had never before taken time to behold! There was a depth of color (what I had thought to be all of one color) in shades and tints and variations that boggled my mind. I was overwhelmed. I knew that it was far beyond me to create or even imagine something like this. I could, perhaps, spend a lifetime just trying to catalogue, record, or describe the meaning of “green” and “grass” just within the confines of this small piece of land.
And God had done it all, with a word, in and instant. And beyond this garden there was another garden, and yet another. Before this garden had existed He had other gardens beyond number and who could count those which were still yet to come? Besides gardens there are woods and deserts and oceans. How vast! How tremendous!
So here I am, for one small segment of time in my allotted four-score and ten years, amazed because I took time to watch the grass grow. The grass, green plants and trees that God created. I know that we were also made by God to tend His creation, to observe the work of His hands, to enjoy it, and to give Him the glory due to Him as Creator. My busy life and work all too often take me away from that purpose. Taking time to watch the grass grow has certainly better enabled me to recognize God, know Him, know myself and worship.
When was the last time you sat and watched the grass grow? When will the next time be?
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