Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
I’m not really sure what I had in mind when I first took this picture of a patch of weeds. Probably something to do with the frosty morning caught my attention, but why focus on this particular patch of grasses? Maybe I thought it artistic, who knows, or maybe everything was so frozen I felt I had to press the shutter just to keep my fingers warm, I really don’t remember. It wasn’t until sometime later while looking at the picture I came to realize what it was that drew me to this particular bit of earth. It must have been the contrast. Why would everything around this clump be frozen white, yet these stems seemed to be immune to the whims of weather? I don’t know.
Most of us like to think of ourselves as being rational, thinking human beings. We like to believe we can reason from cause to effect and come away with a cogent response. And while I suspect there is a reason for why these particular grasses were different from the others, I really haven’t a clue. It could be there was a micro-climate surrounding this particular clump caused forces unseen by me. Maybe this particular variety of grass conducts more heat through its leaves and stems, doesn’t sound likely, but maybe. My point is, sometimes we just don’t have a good answer as to why things happen.
Consider the family that has two kids. One turns out great and chooses to follow the Lord while the other one, for no apparent reason, just isn’t interested in this God-thing. We ask ourselves, “What could we have done differently?” and more often than not the answer is, “We just don’t know.” This isn’t intended to minimize the importance of the question, for we all want the best for our children and students, but to simply point out the answers may just not be available to us. James 1:17 says: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (NIV) Sometimes we must be prodded to remember that, while there are things we need to understand and do, salvation is ultimately a gift. And any gift to be really ours must be accepted.