Backyard Bullies

I am so blessed to live in an area with four distinct seasons. Each season brings it's own beauty and excitement. All the signs are here that spring will be arriving soon. As I anticipate the joy of celebrating Resurrection Day, I run around in my back yard like a child on an Easter egg hunt. My search is not for eggs and candy; it is for buds, green shoots, and the signs that God is awakening the sleeping plant life in my yard.

The trees we planted last fall looked a bit droopy and tired, we were concerned for their survival over the winter. What was sparse and wilting is now a profusion of little buds on the branches, an announcement that they wintered well. The ground cover roses are reaching through the layer of protective hay we laid over them for the winter and promising that they will be as pink, bright, and beautiful as they were last summer.

Despite the excitement of the new life to come, I notice that not all is perfect in my land of awakening beauty. It appears that a nefarious creature, not content with the special wild animal mix, unprocessed peanuts and occasional bits of chopped fruit I offer at the Critter Café, has taken to digging up our yard. All the time and love I lavished on the little plot around the backyard fountain was for naught. This varmint, with no respect for a novice gardener's Herculean efforts to create beauty, has dug up everything I planted and left gaping holes to mock me.

There has not always been this tension between us and the furry creatures that visit our backyard. For the year and a half we have lived in our new home, I have fed and developed a friendship with the little gray squirrels. These gray-coated little gentlemen are polite and dear. They stay on the fence or in the feeding area we have created for them, never destroying any of my horticultural handiwork.

We have an unspoken agreement of trust and they will sit close to me on the fence as I replenish their food, chiding me gently as they see our felines gazing longingly at them through the French doors.

Sadly, our idyllic relationship has been tainted by the arrival of the town squirrels. These portly reddish brown fellows have pushed their way into our little haven with the air of a group of unruly thugs. They are not content to wait for service at the Critter Café and insist on helping themselves to anything they fancy in my yard, which includes a number of plants I placed there. My garden has not been the same since these chubby charlatans arrived.

When I think about the drama unfolding in my back yard, it reminds me that life plays itself out the same way. We cultivate relationships, careers and talents. We work hard to grow a good life and then wait for the full bloom of our efforts to burst forth. The buds are there, we can smell spring in the air and we are sure that very soon we will be reaping the rewards of all our hard effort. Alas, before the blossoms are in sight, something happens or someone intervenes and attempts to destroy all the beauty we have been painstakingly developing.

How we react to the attacks from such marauders is a reflection of our walk with the Lord. We can throw away our trowel and vow never again to garden. We can throw a fit, stomp on the destruction under our feet and make it worse or, we can consult the Master Gardener who will help us restore to beauty everything that the enemy has tried to obliterate.We have a God that is more than capable of dealing with those who would try to destroy the gardens in our lives. Our God can take the gaping holes and fill them with reviving soil. He can grow something fresh and lovely in a place that was dark and empty.

Satan is no more than a backyard bully, with bushy tail waiving and sharp little teeth gnashing, attempting to make us think he is more powerful and more threatening than he really is. He can dig a few holes in our lives, but if we use the soil of renewal and the water of life we can plant something new and often even more wonderful. Whether I am repairing the garden of my home or my heart, I will remember that there is no hole to dark and deep that God cannot fill with beauty.

Father, thank you for speaking to me through the beauty of the world you have created. I am excited to begin anew, to replant and anticipate what You will do in this time of restoration.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.
Matthew 17:11 (NKJ)