Geraniums

I’ve always enjoyed having plants in the house and put some effort into nurturing them. I water them every morning and have been watching this summer, as leaves and flowers have budded and grown and small plants have started to grow bigger. It brings joy and pleasure.

I have a geranium which sits just at the foot of my patio door. One morning I pulled the curtains back as usual and unusually, pulled the plant over. It fell on its side. I was cross with myself for doing this – my plant, which I was carefully nurturing and I had knocked it over! I picked it up and put it back, and in doing so noticed that a caterpillar had fallen out of the plant and was lying on the carpet. How strange! I swept it and the dirt up.

A little while later I noticed that several of the leaves had holes in. Ah… the caterpillar must have been eating them. Gradually I realised that if the caterpillar had been allowed to stay – I didn’t know it was there – it would have eaten the whole geranium plant. In fact, I had seen one such example recently in another garden somewhere.

Gradually I also realised that it was the kindness of the Lord that I had knocked the plant over, because if I hadn’t, the caterpillar wouldn’t have been knocked out of the plant, and the plant saved from being ravaged. So instead of being cross with myself, I should have been thankful for what the Lord had done.

It set me thinking. So often we view things from our own perspective. We see a situation, and, based on what we know, we make a judgement, or we react. Little do we see what the Lord is working out behind the scenes. So things may seem bad initially but, if we’re in the Lord’s will, and we hold on to Him, trusting Him that He has a bigger plan than we can see, then the issues which seem problems, mistakes or disasters in our lives, may actually be part of the Lord working out His higher purposes in our lives for our good.

As we read in Isaiah: ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’. So, when we’re told to trust the Lord, to hold on to Him – it’s for good reason. He has good plans for us, but because He has the bigger picture, the way of working that plan out may not make sense to us at the time. Why is this happening Lord? Why are you not answering Lord? Maybe it’s happening because He’s working out His fuller purposes. Let’s decide to trust the Lord today, whatever our circumstances; to give Him thanks no matter what we’re facing. He has our good at heart and that of all His creation.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank You that Your love is higher than the heavens and that Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. I’m sorry for the times I don’t trust You, and today I choose to trust You in all my circumstances. Thank You for the blessings I can see, and for the blessings I can’t see yet. Thank You that You’re working out Your plans and purposes in and through me. Thank You that You’re my shepherd and You lead me to safety, even in the presence of my enemies. Amen.