Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
January 12, 2024
Psalm 107:33-37
33 God turns rivers into desert, watery springs into thirsty ground, 34 fruitful land into unproductive dirt when its inhabitants are wicked. 35 But God can also turn the desert into watery pools, thirsty ground into watery springs, 36 where he settles the hungry. They even build a city and live there! 37 They plant fields and vineyards and obtain a fruitful harvest.
Good Morning!
The great visionaries of the world see something where there is nothing. A few years ago, I read a story about a group of young adults who were trying to save their dry, dirty city neighborhood block. It was a typical city block in their declining neighborhood: crime was rampant, and graffiti covered most empty walls (or anything else that sat in one place for too long). City officials were working to rezone this neighborhood so that they could rid the area of this pocket of wasteland.
This seemingly unremarkable group of people decided that they would clean the old empty lot and plant a community garden. In the beginning, there were many naysayers who told them they were wasting their time, but they persevered and got the junk hauled away and hired a company to plow up the ground.
They got a few neighborhood kids to help them hoe the ground and create rows by promising pizza and soda when the job was done. They engaged others to help drop in the sees and label the rows. They were out there every day working to nurture their garden plot. As they waited for the seedlings to sprout, they sang songs and played their guitars and drums. A few more began to wander into their space.
Gradually, the seedlings sprouted, and there was a great celebration for their impending crop. As the garden grew, so did those who came to help. Some still just watched from a distance, but they wanted to know what was going on. At the end of that first growing season, they had produced and given food to every family on the block. They even had enough to fill a weekly farmer’s market where people from neighboring blocks would come and buy their vegetables. All the money earned was saved to plan for next year’s garden.
Fast forward ten years. The crime rate is minimal. The city officials who had wanted to rezone their block were now implementing similar gardens in every adjoining block. Instead of graffiti, there are plants everywhere. The block where it all began, built greenhouses to raise seedlings and created high-rise alternative garden spaces throughout their block. Building roofs became green spaces. The members of this block were flourishing just like the plants in their gardens.
All because a small group saw the possibilities of luscious vegetables and caring neighbors who loved one another where others had only seen barren land. This is how God works. He takes nothingness and creates beauty.
Gracious God, Thank you for this beautiful gift of life. Nothing is impossible when we turn our lives to you. You are our centering force. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: God can bring life where there seems to be none.
See the possibilities where none seem to exist! Pastor Liz