"When Esau heard the words of
his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to
his father, "Bless me, even my also, O my father!"
(Gen. 27:34). Esau became a weed
at that moment.
Hey
Gang: The bride of my youth is an avid
reader. She does not just read books,
she consumes them. I have even seen her
read huge books (huge to me for anything over six pages without pictures and
large print) that she did not particularly like. This morning, as she often does, she brought
something she came across in her morning devotions. She thought would be a neat
item for a morning message and it rang my bell because in it is a point of
discipline that we all need to implement in our spiritual walk with the Lord.
The Story: “One spring when the earth was coming alive and dormant seeds were
coming to life there, among the blooming hibiscus, hanging ferns, and multiple
forms of flowering plants, a tiny seed penetrated the soil and soon became a
tall, vigorous stalk that had vibrant green leaves He did not have a clue what the plant was,
so he asked his neighbor if she knew what it was. She answered, “Yes, it is a weed.”
Well the man certainly did not want a weed growing among all the prestigious
and splendid creations of God, so he picked up the pot that contained the weed
plant and headed for the thrash can - but as he walked he could not help but look at the plant and it
was truly beautiful. He returned the
plant to the porch, watered it and named it his Esau plant.
I recall another story of a very busy
executive that was CEO of a very large plant that employed mega people. If you want to be a CEO of a plant that
has no problems, be self-employed, for where there are two people there is
going to be conflict. As a matter of
fact when there is only one, sometimes there is going to be days of conflict. It
so happened that at this particular time there was in a raging war between
management and the union. This had gone on for months with no resolution.
It would
have put most people in the loony bin, but the CEO seemed to handle the stress
very well. When asked how he was able to
take such a beating day after day without beginning to show signs of dry rot,
he gave his secret. He said, "Do
you see that plant outside the door of my office? When I come to work in the morning I take my
CEO hat from that plant and put in on, and when I leave at night, l take my CEO
cap off and put it on the plant".
Well, getting back to the story of the
beautiful weed that almost ended up in the trash can because someone along the
line had decided this seed did not live up to their criteria to be a
prestigious and splendid creation of God and really did not deserve to
live. As I leaned back in my chair and thought
about that weed - the image of thousands of kids that someone along the line
said were weeds and did not deserve to be treated as the prestigious and
splendid creations of God, had crossed my path.
I also
thought about the comment the lady that condemned the weed to death made when
she said, “You best kill that weed or it will contaminate all the beautiful
prestigious and splendid flowers.” I
wonder what our world would look like if Isaac would have given Esau's birth
right back to him and he, would have been treated like a prestigious and
splendid flower, like his twin brother Jacob.
Soooo, my friends, take it from an old salt
that has spent his life watering, cultivating, and encouraging weeds that were
not considered prestigious or splendid enough to be loved, pruned and
encouraged - as are many prestigious and
splendid flowers in weeds clothing begging for someone to water, cultivate and
prune them. So, my friends, strap you
hoe on your side and be prepared to do some gardening today. If you are willing, God will lead you to a
prestigious and splendid flower hidden in weed's clothing.
Blessings,
Gramps
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