Oh To Be Like... Grass?

 Yes, the title looks strange... but so am I. So there you have it ;)

 Just today I asked God to show me something in all of this mess... these messes. (I can never keep it down to just one mess... :P)  This is what came to mind...

 Grass: It grows everywhere.   We use it to feed our animals; to help stop erosion; to make our lawns pretty.  It's something soft to walk on.  It's pretty.

 Ever think about how the grass grows?  

 We walk on it.  Yet it springs back and still grows....
 We cut it continually.  Yet it grows...
 The wild winds blow over it and lay it flat. Yet it stands up tall again as if nothing happened...
 The wild fires burn it.  Yet it always grows back... grows better, and greener...

 When we walk on it, it gets crushed flat.  Goodness, can you imagine the weight issue there? It's so much smaller than us.  When it gets crushed, I mean, it's crushed.  But it always comes up again...

 So should we when trials come.  We get crushed flat... but God still wants us to grow.  We still have to spring back, and keep growing.

 We cut the grass... the tips we cut off go down by the roots and go back into the soil.  The nutrients that went into the tips now go back into the soil, and make growing conditions better.   But that's not to say getting cut so often doesn't hurt...

 God is always having to cut off our "tips" so we'll grow right. So we'll be fit for His purpose.  It hurts!! But it has to be done.  Those things help us to grow in Him.

 The wild winds blow over the grass... yet after each gust, it stands up tall again. Just to be knocked over with the next... The wind lays it flat.  Sometimes even cracks it off at the base.  But what's left always stands back up...   Some stems stand tall no matter how hard the blast... they just stand there and quiver.  
 There is no protection from the wind when it's out on the prairie.  It stands fully exposed.  When the wind hits it, over it goes... but it never stays over.  Never.

 When the winds of sorrow, and trouble sweep over us, we're laid flat.  It looks like the end... but through God's strength we can stand up tall again, and glorify Him.
 Whatever gets cracked off was meant to be. It wasn't good for that to stay. It hurts! But what's left of us needs to pick ourselves back out of the dirt, and praise Him anyway.

 Some of us just stand in the "wind and storm" and quiver... some are just stronger that way.  But there will come a time of calm after the storm when the quivering stops, and there is rest.

 God doesn't always shield us from the "winds" or sorrow, or trouble. But He always sees us through. Always.

 The fires come raging through the field, and burn up the grass. There is nothing left... but roots.  And it always grows back better, and greener.  It comes back healthier.
 The fire burns off the dead, and dry. The unneeded, unwanted stems.  It burns off all that is visible of the plant.  But when the fire comes it burns all that to ash, which goes back into the soil and helps the grass to grow better.

 When the fiery trials come, it burns off the dross.  All the unneeded, icky sins, unwanted impurities. All the faults and foibles... and all the energy and hard work that has gone into "growing" those, goes back into our "roots"....... we grow better because of it. We learn from it.


 All that the grass goes through... yet it's silent.  It never screams out at God for making it that way.  It never screams out at God for allowing it get walked on and crushed. It never complains about the wind and the fire.  It never complains about being trimmed.  It just silently grows, and continues to serve Him with everything in it.

 So, back to the title... Oh to be like grass!

 To go through trials and testings, and never complain.
 Never worry.
 Never falter.

 Just stand up again.
 And Keep. Growing.


       Hallie