The Weeds That Matter

Today has been one of those beautifully ordinary days.

For nearly three years we've been working toward painting the outside of our home, and finally—finally—the timing has come together. As I wandered through the yard pulling weeds, trimming here and there, my mind kept drifting back to Ecclesiastes.

"Vanity of vanities...all is vanity."

Those words can feel unsettling.

I found myself wondering, What really matters?

One day someone else will live in this house. Someone else may enjoy these flowers. Someone else may sit beneath the trees we're planting. The weeds I pull today will simply grow back tomorrow. So why does any of it matter?

Then I realized something.

Perhaps the value isn't found in the pulling of the weed.

Perhaps it's found in the One I'm walking with while I pull it.

God has never asked us to live spectacular lives in the eyes of the world. He has asked us to live faithful ones.

Every meal prepared, every friendship nurtured, every Bible study opened, every prayer whispered, every weed pulled, every act of service offered with love becomes an offering placed into His hands.

Maybe I'm not just pulling weeds.

Maybe I'm cultivating gratitude.

Maybe I'm caring for a home that welcomes others.

Maybe we are planting shade we will never sit under, simply because someone else will one day need it.

And maybe that's what the Kingdom has always looked like.

Not a life filled with constant mountaintop moments, but thousands of ordinary moments quietly surrendered to Jesus.

The world may call them ordinary.

He calls them faithful.

And suddenly, even pulling a weed doesn't feel quite so small anymore.

                          Christine