Job 14:1-14.
For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and
that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its
stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth
branches like a young plant.
Many of you know that 3 years ago this May, our
family was blessed with a wonderful baby, a first child and granddaughter,
Siena Margaret. She is lovely, funny, sassy and very bright... a bundle of
hope. Last summer she and I spent much of it together in my gardens, watching
the small flowers and herbs we had planted together grow and mature. We dried
some of those summer herbs, chives and basil, and gave them to our family and
friends as Christmas presents.
But after Christmas time had come and gone, there
were no plants for us to water, to dry or bundle. Siena began to express fear
that the flowers may not come back. Spring time coming is not exactly
believable for a two and a half year old, even though promises of spring and
more flowers kept coming from her grandmother. Siena Margaret lives in the here
and now, and she needed concrete proof, results to back my promises, my hope.
So last Saturday after breakfast, we put on our rain
jackets and rubber boots, and went out looking for the flowers. And sure
enough, under last year’s leaves, the flowers were coming, in spite of the rain
and the dark wet ground. Siena Margaret was delighted! She insisted on fetching
her little watering can and watered everything that looked remotely like a bud
or a shoot. She seemed to instinctively know that watering the new life would
help secure its delivery into our lives yet again.
I found something else in my garden this year. I
found hope, waiting patiently to show itself to a wee child. To transform
itself into buds of faith right in front of her eyes. I saw a magical
invitation to Siena, inviting her to think hopefully and to believe in the
promise of life. Siena Margaret helped me understand Job 14:7-9 in a way I
never have before. Thank God.
— Gini Davis, Grandmother
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