The Prodygal Life

I try to be green.  I mean I recycle… I think that is about as green as I know how to be or really want to be.  I don’t try to be wasteful and I do try to be resourceful but I think light green is probably more likely my shade …. However, I did try to do something this year that I have never done before.. Gardening.  I grew up on a farm and remember going to the garden with my mom and aunt but also remember feeling like it was torture.  Not anymore… nope, gardening is way cool.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt for me to grow a few items to help stock our refrigerator in these cautious economic times.  So gardening is what I decided to do.  But since I knew nothing about gardening I decided to get my kids involved and then they could grow them and we would all learn together.  We bought seeds and a seed starter kit and went to work.  We had squash, dill, cilantro, peppers, sunflowers and more.  They grew and grew and we were so proud and still are.  The day came when it was time to plant them in the real ground and now they are growing like crazy…. One problem though……I have no clue if the plant growing is a weed or a vegetable…I think I yanked up some baby carrot tops today because I thought they were weeds…. still don’t know for sure.

Now the sunflowers, mammoth sunflowers, to be exact, I’m way excited about.  The first round of sunflower sprouts accidentally drowned while we were away on vacation and then after drying my daughter’s tears, we started over.  This time the sunflowers are in the ground and growing right along… that is, until yesterday.  Yesterday morning before I left for work I went to check on my little garden and the sunflowers since they are our newest addition.  I was heart broken at what I saw…. nothing.  That’s right.  Three of our little sunflower plants were gone.  Only a little stem was left to look at.  My first thoughts were the weedeater… but I knew my husband wouldn’t have hit them.  My second thought was a rabbit but I couldn’t understand why a rabbit would only eat the sunflowers and not everything else.  I was highly disappointed but took heart because the other two baby sunflower plants were still going strong.  I figured that the rest of my garden was in danger but really didn’t have a way to protect them from the hungry rabbit so I just had to hold onto the hope that all would be well in the morning.

Later that evening I was doing some work when my daughter came from outside and told me to hurry, “Dad, found what ate the sunflower.”  I went outside totally expecting to see a cute but evil bunny when he stuck a little something in front of my face.  It was ugly and gooey and had been sitting right on top of the sunflower…. the culprit? A gray field slug.  I wasn’t completely convinced that it could do so much damage but I googled it and sure enough… slugs seems to love baby sunflowers.  I became immediately protective of my little seedlings and like any good mother, sought to get rid of the bully.  Again, I googled in search of a remedy and I also stated my disgust at this little slug on Facebook.

Amazingly, I must not be alone in trying to rid the world of ugly gray field slugs because people rallied to help me solve my problem. Some of the sweetest people I know jumped at the chance to tell me how to *cough, cough* torture those little slimy guys. First there was the whole salt thing.  I thought that slugs didn’t like the feel of salt on their slug bellies but no… apparently if you place salt on a slug it will tell you top secret government plots and then it will melt away as if it were in a scene from the Wizard of Oz… ewww… Then there were others telling me to practically plan a slug keg party… okay, maybe that is a bit much but beer is supposedly a slug’s vice and they will drink themselves to death…. or maybe it’s drown in their yeasty beverage… whatever the death of choice for the slugs, I found it pretty comical that the little ugly, slimy sunflower murdering varmint could cause such a stir in good people.

I guess there are times when we just can’t put up with something and it tends to bring out something in us that we don’t always recognize until we’ve crossed a line. Peter was like that.  He had the tendency to jump at a situation and then Jesus had to stop him in his tracks.  I was reading in John tonight about the arrest of Jesus.  Peter got a little out of control… I can picture the scene.  He watched as the soldiers and priests arrived at the scene.  I can imagine him to be clinched-jawed and squinty-eyed as they stepped closer to Jesus…. he was angry and wanted to protect his buddy/teacher/friend/mentor from this posse.  He drew his sword and took off the ear of a servant named Malchus.  Now, you might think that Jesus would be thankful for Peter’s enthusiastic act but instead he had to stop Peter …. good guy, bad move…he just couldn’t put up with the thought of them mistreating his mentor.

You have to really love Peter… He was always reacting and wanting to do the right thing… like the time he told Jesus that he wouldn’t let him die or the time that he told Jesus that he wouldn’t let Jesus wash his feet… Peter’s intentions were always good or at least they seemed good but it was good in the eyes of man and not the eyes of God… sometimes it is so hard to know… Obviously, Peter had been hanging out with God for quite some time and still didn’t get it completely…

I guess that can be us today, too.  Feeling like we are doing the right thing because it seems to be the right thing……not necessarily because it is the thing God is giving us the thumbs up to but because we don’t want someone else to hurt or we don’t want to seem unloving or uncaring (isn’t that being the opposite of being like God?)… or maybe we want to seem angry and defensive (after all, didn’t Jesus get rather smart alec with those who were not willing to open their hearts)…. Peter could relate to reacting then thinking…. I’m pretty sure there are many of us who can claim that same attribute including me… I guess my next thought is how Christ reacted back… frustrated, stern and possibly even a bit angry…. that makes me very aware that when I react I need to focus on when God is giving me the thumbs up or thumbs down…

Now, does the Bible give any indication on how to treat a slug?

Matthew 16:21-23

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹ From then on Jesus^[j] began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

²² But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him^[k] for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

John 18:1-11

Jesus Arrested

¹When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

²Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

⁴Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

⁵“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) ⁶When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”
And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁸“I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” ⁹This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”^[a]

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

¹¹Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”