Some of you may remember the difficulty I had last year with growing lettuce. Actually, growing it was the easy part; warding off hungry (and persevering!) rabbits was where I had some problems. This year, due to time restraints, this intermittent gardener decided to not even attempt growing lettuce - I knew I wouldn't have the time to mess with rabbits.
To tell you the truth, I really hadn't done any cultivating at all when I finally ventured out to survey the condition of the weedpit - I mean, garden. It was just as I expected. Tall weeds, short weeds, prickly weeks, leafy weeds, vine-like weeds - maybe even some weeds unique to our garden. But as I kept looking, I noticed one plant that didn't quite fit in with all the other weeds. As I observed a little more closely, I realized what it was. Lettuce. Now, I know that I did not plant any lettuce this year. None. But there it was right in front of me: one solitary, healthy head of lettuce, and I had not done any work for it. On top of that, the rabbits hadn’t even touched it.
We often don’t understand why God chooses to give us gifts. David questioned why the kingdom of Israel was given to him. On that note, why did God choose the Israelites at all? And what had the disciples done to make them worthy to be the privileged few who were the closest to Jesus during His time on earth? One thing we know for sure: God doesn't give us gifts because we deserve them. After all, King David committed sins that hurt many people. The Israelites were far from faithful to God – most of the Old Testament tells of their yo-yo commitment to God and His ways. The disciples were continually bickering, arguing, and losing focus of the big picture (if they ever really had it in sight). Think of Jonah when he was stewing about God's compassion toward Nineveh: despite Jonah's sour attitude, God made a plant grow quickly to shade Jonah from the scorching heat (Jonah 4:1-11). Jonah didn’t deserve God’s compassion toward him, but God gave it to him anyway.
As Charles Spurgeon so aptly put it, “Soar back through all your own experiences. Think of how the Lord has led you in the wilderness and has fed and clothed you every day. How God has borne with your ill manners, and put up with all your murmurings and all your longings after the 'sensual pleasures of Egypt!' Think of how the Lord's grace has been sufficient for you in all your troubles.” Yes, God rewards obedience and faithfulness to Him, but sometimes He also gives generously for no reason that we can see or understand. And He gives generously. Who among us deserves an air-conditioned bedroom, a supportive family, or nice clothes? What have we done that makes us more worthy of these things than millions of other people around the world? Nothing. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son," and, might I add, a million other smaller blessings that we often don't even think about.
One small head of lettuce may not seem like a big deal, and, from a practical point of view, it isn't. But God can teach us life lessons even through the little things. A message about His loving generosity surrounds us every day - a safe car ride, good meals, our favorite song on the radio, even an untended yet prospering head of lettuce. But we so rarely notice. We don't deserve God's patient love and generous gifts toward us. He gives them anyway. And that's something this intermittent gardener will think about next time I eat a salad.
