A View From the Side of the Road

An observation.

Last fall we had horrendous fires in Southern California. We could see the flames from our home. Our circumstance was safe, but many people suffered great loss. But we in S. Calif. know that the threat wasn't over with the fires. Once it started to rain, you could count on mudslides and hillslides and more. In anticipation of that, some agency decided that before the rains began in earnest, the hillsides that were burned needed to be reseeded. Not all, but those up on the mountainside near us needed to be sprayed in order to speed up the growth of vegetation to hold the earth in place. So they did.

Some two to three months later I can see those hills as I drive by in my car.

The irony - the places that have been seeded are still bare. The ones that were left un-seeded are now green.

What's my point? Simple. For me it represents the urgency with which we as a people act in order to control our circumstance. We can't wait for things to happen in a natural course. Our anxiety dictates that we take charge and make things happen. One of the things I'm learning in spiritual direction is that by taking control we often miss the point. That we're not in control and God's ways are different than my ways.

Look to the hills. Where is the green pasture? It is a thought worth considering. How do we do that in our busy lives when everything is centered on producing. The more we press, sometimes the further we get from the product, from the right result, from what God is doing.

Can we wait? Can we let things take their course without preempting the process? Do we really believe our answers are better than God's?

I look to the hills, from when cometh my help?

(P.S. - Maybe the sprayed areas weren't intended to grow. Maybe the spray is a kind of glue to hold the hill together....analogy still works.)

Comments

[margie mirken]

The hardest thing is figuring out when we're supposed to let natural re-seeding occur, and when to take the initiative and plant. Is patience and inaction what God wants from us now, or are we to be bold? And if we guess wrong, what then? That forgiveness is always there is a comfort, because, like you, I'm just guessing.