Ah spring!! It’s that time of the year when the snow melts, the tulips, daffodils, crocuses (crocii??), and other spring flowers begin their slow ascent from the slumber of winter to grace our yards with their vibrant display of God’s immaculate glory.
Some of our plants return naturally every year, but if you are like my family who likes to produce some of their own food, we understand that the growing season in Montana is only a few months long. So, it is necessary to start plants indoors in late February and early March.
Cue my wife’s sweet voice cheering her nursery of plants in their tiny pots in her plastic greenhouse by the fireplace.
“OOOhhh! Look how big you’re getting! You can do it little ones!!”
It’s safe to say my wife loves all things growing and spring and green and healthy.
Spring is also the time of the year when my youngest son and I attempt to shoot baskets in the driveway to get through the whole March Madness bracket.
***Without sharing the details of the contest, just know it works out to 40 shots per game (1280 for the first round games alone). ***
It’s in this context when spring’s brilliance and a love for basketball in our family violently collides…
As we begin our quest to decide the basketball contests on our home court, you can imagine the scene that inevitably plays out…
Cooper for 3! Brick! Long miss toward the garden! The players look on in horror as the ball caroms aggressively in the direction of a bunch of Mom’s innocently delicate tulips. A frantic scramble ensues! A desperate swipe at the ball narrowly misses deflected it away to the grass.
CRUNCH!!
Unsurprisingly, at least one stalk (if we are lucky) has been broken and is now bent over in a grotesque angle. After a quick, definitely-not-guilty-looking assessment of who observed the carnage, the offender ever so gently grabs the damaged specimen and carefully places it in an upright position and loosely anchors it to another sturdy plant to make it look as normal as possible.
(Of course, this never works and within a day, the broken flower has fallen again and has entered prematurely into its annual decline, while the remnants increase their vigilance for another ferocious, spherical assault on their ranks.)
Broken stems, bruised stalks, and bowed blooms are a reminder of the cruelty of our march through March Madness and the wounds that mar our delicate life stories.
In Matthew 12, the conflict with the religious ranks of Jesus’ day began to become openly hostile. So, Jesus responded to this antagonism by retreating to a quiet place with His disciples. People with various infirmities found them and Jesus kindly healed many. It is in this context Matthew showed that Jesus fulfilled the prophesy from Isaiah 42. First, hostility from others; then compassion for the hurting.
The section that sticks out to me is this:
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
It’s this verse that comes to mind when I think of the tiny shoots of vegetable plants my wife fosters in her late winter greenhouse, and the crooked shaft of a basketball-flattened daffodil…
and my battered heart.
They all require a deep gentleness.
The gentleness of Jesus invites us to come to Him in Matthew 11:28-30 to receive rest for our souls.
- “I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
- “I won’t break you my bruised reed.”
- “I won’t snuff you out my little smoldering wick.”
- “I will strengthen your feeble heart.”
- “I will lift you up with my mighty hand.”
- “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
- “No one can snatch you from my hand.”
- “Nothing can separate you from my love.”
- “I will give you rest for your souls.”
Just like those plants that are gently nurtured in my home or the annual spring victims of a silly driveway basketball contest, Jesus has an ocean of promises for those who are needy, hurt, bruised, wounded, suffering, and weary.
People like you and me.
Let Jesus tenderly and expertly mend your broken heart, set your bruised soul upright, and ignite the burning passion in your heart to love other deeply as He does.
- What are some of Jesus’ sweet promises that you hold especially close to your heart?
- How do we negatively perceive Jesus responding when we mess up, are wounded, or hurting?