Room to grow

This certainly looks like a strange picture to center today's blog around. When I started this whole blog adventure, I sincerely prayed that the LORD would speak to me through my natural surroundings, His awesome creation. He has been faithful in that way, and I record some of those revelations here.

So what did I learn from these green onions? I guess I'll start with a little background information. The girls and I planted them from seed and they sprouted up nice enough. The package gave directions for us to thin the seedlings to stand three inches apart when they were one to two inches high. Contrary to the growing instructions, I did not thin the plants. I just did not have the heart to yank out all of those green onions. They were alive, I reasoned, and that should be good enough.

The onions grew only up to a certain point and then kind of sputtered out. It didn't take me long to realize that they just did not have enough room to grow. I had not followed the package directions and done what was necessary to ensure a good outcome. Little by little I began pulling an onion out here and there. My daughter and I always tried to eat them, tiny as they were, to lessen my guilt from not letting them continue to grow.

Slowly but surely, as they were given more room to grow, certain onions really began to thrive. This encouraged me to the point where I was willing to pull even more of them out to create more growing space for the particularly healthy ones. The preceding picture was taken after I had finally gotten to that place of being able to pull out a larger amount. In a way it was very freeing to be able to pull that many.

Through this little lesson, my extaordinarily loving and patient Father has shown me that I may not always understand why He calls me to pull certain things out of my life. It might not make total sense to me, and may even seem wrong or cruel. If I will just obey Him when I feel His leading, though, I can see that the outcome will be better. Like the onions, He may just be trying to give me room to grow. Why would I go against His best for me, knowing what I do now? He knows what He is doing and I can trust Him in that.

I hear You, LORD, and I will listen to You.