Genesis 1:29-30
As previously stated more than once, I am a city kid. I mean, really a city kid. My parents were raised in a city (primarily Kansas City, Missouri). My grandparents were born on a farm, but they even migrated to the city early in life. By the 1920’s most of my grandparents lived in Kansas City, Missouri. When I was a child, I occasionally visited two of my great grandparents at their farms, but they were both in their 80’s and they were no longer farming.
I knew what farm animals looked like from pictures in books. I could identify corn and soybeans because I’d seen them from the highway. That was the extent of my knowledge of farming. The only farm animals I’d seen were either in a zoo or a petting zoo.
When I moved to a farm in 2019, it was a whole new deal for me. Every sound at night was foreign. Every star in the sky could be clearly seen because they were no longer dimmed by city lights.
It was a whole new world to me.
Walking in the woods was a different experience as well. The only woods I’d really been around surrounded biking paths in cities where I’ve lived. The first time I went hunting for mushrooms in the woods, I was afraid of what else I might find. I am NOT a fan of snakes and I prayed the whole time I was in the woods.
Since that time, I’m not as freaked out as I was in the beginning. I still carry a big stick (preferably a tool to kill dandelions) in case I encounter snakes, but, I’ve developed a natural curiosity for all things ‘unknown’ to me. I watch nature programs and I specifically look for information indigenous to the Midwest. I have learned what raccoons eat, what coyotes eat, what opossums eat, what owls eat, and what eagles eat.
I made a point of finding out about the last two so I would know how to protect my small ‘city dweller’ dogs.
While I still don’t know a lot, I have learned a some things about God’s creation, especially when it comes to natural plants.
In Genesis 1:29-30, “AND God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.”
God had a plan for every herb, plant, and animal. On the farm, that becomes evident. For example, while I fight to keep pesky ticks off of my dogs, I have learned that opossums have a unique job in the food chain...they eat their weight in ticks. I gained a whole new appreciation for ‘opossums’. I also learned (because I looked it up) that opossums are indigenous to North America while possums live in Australia.
Where I now live, I see rows upon rows of corn and soybeans.
The first time I watched a crop being harvested, I was fascinated by the speed and precision of the combines. These very expensive (I’m told) multi-faceted machines reap, thresh, gather, and winnow in a single process. Many are equipped with complex computers that are programmed to efficiently plan how to clear the rows.
Being a city kid, I don’t take that for granted. While I don’t understand the complex workings of how the plants are separated, I do think modern processes help to feed the world.
I’ve learned that out here, conservation and treatment of the soil is a huge deal. Farmers know that dark soil filled with nutrients is not something to be taken for granted.
That brings me to my point.
It occurs to me regularly that God’s creation plan for seeds, soil, and plants is as applicable today as it was when God first created seeds and soil. God knew from the beginning what we would need in the heartland to help feed this population.
God knew what purpose every herb, plant, and animal would serve in every century in every place on every continent. God knew what we would need and He provided it in the beginning.
God put a plan in motion in the beginning that made earth sustainable. That plan included seeds and plants and a food chain that would make our earth work together in motion through the centuries. As we look to the future, our responsibility to God is to continue to be good stewards of what God gave us in the beginning.
In order for God’s plan to continue, our ‘listening’ for the still small voice of God matters. It matters today and it matters for generations to come.
In the beginning God spoke, and it is so.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: listening
Listen for the still small voice of God. Thank God for creating seeds, plants, and animals and ask God what part He has for you. It may be for you to pray that we will be good stewards. Or there could be a new thing God wants to teach you. I never dreamed I’d live on a farm...it just goes to show we never know what God has in store for us.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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