Hidden Treasures

I do not have a green thumb at all, but I admire those that do and desire to someday learn to grow my own garden. My grandparents have always had a summer garden and now my parents have a small one at their place. When I was a young girl, I remember having to pick green beans off the vine in the hot summer heat just one day or two out of my summer. My mother would then take them home and wash each one and place them on towels to dry. It would be my job to help string those beans and break them apart for my mother to then can later that day, to put up those fresh green beans for use in colder months. I loathed that day. Each year I dreaded the "green bean day" and as a teen, I looked for any excuse to not have to participate.

It is so funny how we look at things so differently as an adult. My father called to tell me that I could come and pick beans this summer and have all of them I wanted......he and my mother had already harvested a couple of rounds and canned some for their pantry. I love fresh green beans and buying them from the store (in a can, fresh, or frozen) just does not taste the same to me. I took the opportunity because they taste amazing and the price of groceries is ridiculous, so I was grateful for the fresh veggies from that garden this summer.

As I took a bucket out to the garden, a sense of gratitude that is indescribable came over me. I had my AirPods in and praise music playing.....and all I could see was God's beauty all over the place. My father's garden was no prize (don't tell him I said that) at first glance. He had harvested all he wanted from his plants, so he had let the weeds kind of take over due to the fact that he knew he would wipe out all of the mess all at once in just a couple of weeks. There were weeds and bugs galore, but I felt such a peace in that moment.

Due to the weeds and an abundance of rain just days before, I had to really search for those green beans to pick. I had to pull up the vines and look underneath to find hidden treasures to pick and place in my bucket. As I was doing this.....I thought this must be what God sees when he looks down from Heaven......weeds, dirt, and a mess....but hidden beneath all of that.....a treasure waiting to be discovered and used for his glory. We all have dirt we have to brush off from time to time......an argument with a friend or family member, harsh words spoken to a spouse or child, frustration from the never ending to do list or pile of laundry. In moments of routine or the day to day to do list....sometimes we forget that we are treasured by our Savior. We may look like a hot mess on the outside, but our hearts can be cleaned up by our Maker just as those beans were washed and cleansed, then used for good. Tears filled my eyes as I was overwhelmed by God's grace in a moment of picking beans on a hot summer morning. I was filled with JOY in doing something that I despised many years earlier. I loved picking beans that day....and I felt so close to God in that moment of alone time....with a clear mind and no distractions.

When I got home, my daughter helped me in that same routine of washing, stringing, and breaking beans. I'm sure it wasn't her favorite past time, but she will remember this one day as I looked back on simpler days of stringing beans with my parents and grandparents too. I cooked a pot of those beans for dinner that night and they were the best tasting harvest....my belly and my soul were filled....and for that I was so thankful! Remember to pause and take in the beauty, purpose, and plan God has for you and your life. You might just find peace in the bean patch! When we think we have made a mess of something....ask for God to help your find the hidden treasures in a situation or time when you are in the waiting....right before the breakthrough or the blessing.