God of the Ruins

Have you ever seen a weed in the cracks? 

These things will grow anywhere. You're walking down a beautiful sidewalk and right there in the middle of it is a beautiful...dandelion. Around my area, the little maple tree seeds fall in their helicopters and bloom right wherever they land. We've got little tiny wannabe trees popping up in the oddest of places. 

And they'll grow right through the fence, too. See, my neighbor has weeds. But a few of them have reached through the millimeters of space between my fence boards to say hello to my yard, too. Weeds, I might add, that are growing in the 18-inch-wide patch of dirt between his garage and my 6-foot fence, where there's no such thing as sunshine and barely any rain falls and how on earth does anything grow here?

But it does. 

Sometimes, I wonder the same thing about my life. Especially in the more desolate seasons. 

In the times in which I have lost so much, seemingly everything. When the hits keep coming. When the paycheck isn't quite as big as the bills. When the food goes rotten in the fridge long before its expiration date. When the dog gets sick. When the car breaks down. When my health falters. When my faith falters. When it seems like everything around me is lying in ruins and I feel a little bit like Job, looking around for shards of the life I used to know to at least scratch the unbearable itch while my skin and my eyes weep over the troubles of this fallen world, this broken life. 

But then, a sprout. A tiny little thing. A speck of green, of new life, peeking through the cracks. 

Taking root. 

This is what our God does. He grows things in the places it doesn't seem like they would grow. Micah says He plants vineyards in the ruins (1:6), and that's true. It's not just weeds; it's flowers. And it's branches. And it's fruit. 

If I'm being honest, the fruit isn't always a comfort. Sometimes, it's bitter. When I look around the ruins of a life that seems to be falling apart, the last thing I am amused by is some little fig starting to form. Like, cool, I'm starving to death but here's one bite of fructose. Yippee. 

It's like being on a survival show and finding a grub on day 11. Fantastic. 

Yet if I'm also being honest, every time I'm out and about and see one of these little weeds that has popped up in the most unexpected place, one of these trees that's starting to sprout in a weird spot just because it doesn't know anything else to do, one little branch of a vine waving at me through my fence, I marvel at how resilient life is. At how amazing it is that even in what looks like the worst of all circumstances, something is growing here. 

Because God made it to grow. 

He plants vineyards in the ruins and we reap a harvest of the finest wine. 

That's God for ya'.