Thought for the week

THE first year in my garden, out of sheer curiosity, I stopped mowing the grass to see what plants were there. I fell in love with the red clover, buttercups, and daisies, and began to look up the weeds to see what their natural uses were.

I discovered that by mowing I had been systematically binning nature’s food for birds. Ouch!

Three years later, small paths weave through natural bulbs, weeds, herbs, grasses and wildflowers, including lavender, sage, mint, wild strawberries and blackberries.

There are countless types of bees, butterflies, beetles and moths, as well as wasps, dragon flies, spiders, ladybirds, slow worms, newts, and soil critters.

When God made the world, he loved it. It was a garden, bursting with untameable, complex life! Animals that flew, crawled, and covered the earth. Plants that grew, fruited and spread. And the first human being knew and named them all!

We hear a lot about species decline, pollutants, deforestation, and CO2. The way we live is destroying the world at an incredible rate.

And so far, even our best efforts to change things have been compromised by the throwaway-and-buy-new market we now depend on. Every change we do make seems to be overshadowed by a gigantic, depressing sense that whatever it is, it isn’t enough.

Our huge, rotating blue and green habitat - our garden - is faltering. What should we do?

We may have forgotten a lot, but it helps me to remember that God is the greatest gardener of all, and He still loves this world. Maybe - just maybe - if we work alongside Him, then there is still hope to see this garden we call home thrive again.