This is one of my busy times at work. My exhausting, everything seems to be culminating to these couple of weeks, busy times. A part of the natural ebb and flow of school life, I know to expect it every year, but it still leaves me with my body on the floor, while holding tight to a smile on my face because we can’t stop moving…not yet. Soon, though, I’ll have more time to take breaths and focus on the big picture. For now, though, I’m in the weeds.
Today was a day of details, and true to the day, as I walked home from picking up the mail, I looked at our front yard and could not look past the weeds scattered through our rocky ground cover. They’ve been sprouting since the rains a few weeks ago, but in this moment, ignoring them was no longer an option. I knelt down and started digging with my fingertips, gently teasing the taproot out of the ground with my right hand, gathering the pile to discard in my left. What a sight I was, in my fancy pants and blouse, digging in the rocks. Completing my day as it began, in the weeds.
It seems when life is busy, all I can see are the details. One little task after the next, boxes to check, jobs to finish, weeds to pull. The grand beauty of the garden remains unseen as I pick at the smallest thing.
As I slowly traversed the front yard, though, I noticed something. Mixed among the weeds were tiny baby cacti. Hundreds of little sprouts seeking life in my front yard. I wouldn’t have seen them except for the weeds that drew me there.
And so I remain in awe at what God brings us. Sometimes life is hard. It just is. But there is always beauty, we only need to take a single breath and remind ourselves to look.
god forever tries 