Grow!!!

For the last two weeks it’s been raining/blowing cotton all over the patio, plants and ground!

Probably a 70′ cottonwood tree is still covered with hanging cottony puffs from the ends of every branch. It will be a while before it quits dropping cotton. Each individual puff of cotton has only one tiny seed attached…kind of reminds me of a badminton birdie design.

Why do we need 4 million seeds flying around from one tree? Stuff is meant to grow and provide more than enough. This one tree provides not only seeds for new trees, but also seeds for birds to eat, plus the cotton provides soft lining for the baby birds’ nests. Left over cotton turns back into dirt to replenish the land. I have a love/hate relationship with the tree because of the cotton flying everywhere, but the upside is the terrific shade it provides and the rustley sound as the wind blows through it.

I think all of nature tells us we are to grow, increase, do better, strive for more, become stronger, in turn becoming more helpful…just look back at all the great things mankind has done to better the lives of themselves, creating more beauty, making life easier from what we’ve been given by the earth.

Let’s not digress and diminish what we do. There should be no guilt or shame for making/creating/having abundance. God intended it to be this way. He says, “Grow”! and remember Me while you do.

Light

What is the purpose of light?

  • Light cleanses.
  • Light purifies.
  • Light kills germs.
  • Light helps you see.
  • Light shows the way.
  • Light exposes wrong.
  • Light reveals mistakes.
  • Light reveals shadows.
  • Light provides warmth.
  • Light makes things grow.
  • Light makes you feel good.
  • Light reveals what is good and right.

Mass Production

Today, looking at all the products in Target, I was thinking how quickly an item can be duplicated and produced once the pattern is made. Many, many, many of the same items can be turned out in a short amount of time with little effort.  So much of our world applies the mass production to its wooden spoons, its canned goods, its cars, its clothing, food, even our work and our jobs.

The purpose behind this is more goods produced in less time, fewer facilities needed to make the product, even less materials can be used once the process gets down to a science, and last but not least, fewer people are needed to make these goods. All this can make a person feel like a mere cog in the wheel, just part of the cycle of production, not important, perhaps even replaceable and unneeded. This can really begin to eat at you if you let it.

The good news is God, the creator of everything, did not mass produce anything! He made, created, a lot out of nothing, but none of it is mass produced. You can rest assured you are not a cog in the wheel to God. You were not mass produced, turned off an assembly line… maybe up to spec and maybe not. No, God made you and said, “It is good!” Each of us has His stamp on us. We are all unique, each has certain traits, characteristics, talents, and skills; although perhaps similar to another’s they are different and God wants to use them in a different way. Don’t despise your differences when you try to compare yourself with others. Know that God made you just the way He intended. Now all we have to do is grow and develop and allow Him to bring to maturity what He started.

He who began a good work in you will finish it!