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| "A rolling stone gathers no moss, but leaves a trail of busted stuff". Dave Matthews. |
My car is growing moss.
I’ve never grown moss on my car before. I’m kind of proud of it. Not that it’s been hard. In my corner of the world precipitation records
have been falling like.…rain. (See
what I did there?) We’ve had more rain
fall between Oct 1-April 30 than since records were started 125 years ago.
I haven’t managed to get outside to mow the moss yet. The lawn has been too damp and the thought of
4X-ing the lawn mower through the mud does not appeal. May hasn’t arrived without my lawn being cut
before. The 37 blades of grass are getting
quite long.
It’s been soggy.
The awesome thing about moss is the ease with which it grows
given the correct conditions. Moss
develops from spores not seeds so, without any effort on your part, nature can
send moss free of charge to your lawn, deck, and/or flower bed.
Truth is, I like moss.
Google defines moss as, “a small flowerless green plant that lacks true
roots, growing in low carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats and
reproducing by means of spores released from stalked capsules.” In the right conditions roots aren’t needed
to grow this green marvel. It’s all
about the environment.
A lot of things get blamed on the environment these days:
weather, rodent populations and my daughter’s inability to make her bed in the
morning. Faithful Merriam-Webster states
the environment is composed of “the complex of physical, chemical and biotic
factors that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately
determine its form and survival.” For
pride’s sake, I like to pretend I have evolved beyond my surroundings but
lately I’m not so sure.
As I write this, I’m sitting at a table in the presence of
someone who dislikes me. We are alone in a large room and she is doing a "fair-to-middlin" job of ignoring me. When however, her friend steps into the room she gets mystically empowered and (like our wondrous plant friend) manages
to broadcast her dislike and release spores of malice. Several of them have gotten straight up my nose.
I've spent the better part of ½ an hour biting my tongue trying to be pleasant, but it's not
working. I am failing on many levels and it's vexing.
All the while, I am wondering how Jesus expects
me to rise above the nonsense.
There my friend is the challenge. How do you find Jesus in a toxic place? Or metaphorically speaking, how do you live
in a damp cave and not end up covered in moss?
Something that produces no flowers, fruit or roots and is the antithesis
of every Christian plant illustration?
"Do no harm" is a good start but Jesus isn’t much on the
externals. I can smile sweetly all I
want, but if my heart is to run the woman over with my van, Jesus isn’t fooled.
Part of the problem is my belief that these types of victories come without difficulty. They really don’t. Scripture offers conviction
and direction, but unless I wrestle, grapple and otherwise attempt to kick the
stuffing out of my horrible attitude I’m not going to get very far.
Who said prayer was boring?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” Matthew
5:43-45
“Be kind and
compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God
forgave you” Ephesians 4:32
Can I be honest my friend? This type of kindness and forgiveness doesn’t
always come easily. Might I encourage
you to stay in the battle? Keep
investing in prayer, bringing your needs and lack before the Lord. He is ridiculously faithful. Though it will take you longer than you want,
eventually a victory will come. He is able to change both hard and broken
hearts. He is the way to find peace in
turmoil. He is a solid rock: dependable,
unchanging and utterly moss free.
I’m praying for you this week.
xoxKaren
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