Bamboo

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 The Message

When we moved into this rental property a couple of years ago, we inherited a well landscaped back yard. There are lovely trees, a rose bush, vines growing over a trellis, a brick path, and an exotic Chinese version of green onions. It is lovely to look at and I wish I knew how to better take care of it, as I am a lawnmower kind of guy.

Another element to the landscaping is a patch of bamboo. Not knowing anything about it, I thought it was kind of a neat feature. However, in our first Spring, I discovered that bamboo is onerous! Not bothering to stay contained to the area where it was planted, it pops up all over the place. Every weekend in growing season, I am cutting down bamboo shoots.

I don’t know the horticulture of first century Palestine, but if Paul had ever seen bamboo, he might have used “bamboo” for the word “weeds” in this passage.

Paul says that the person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others -ignoring God!- harvests a crop of weeds. Of course, my edit would be bamboo! When your life is focused on prolific things that satisfy for the moment, those things will let you down. However, when your life is focused on the Spirit, you harvest a crop of bamboo-free real life.

This means that the normal, everyday things you do have deep consequence. When you invest your time, your energy, and your treasure to “the benefit of all”, you are making room for Heaven to come to this world. By focusing on the Spirit, the abundant heavenly realm doesn’t start at the end of your earthly life. It starts now.

Let us pray:

Loving Lord, help us not get fatigued doing good. At the right time, we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, and every time we get the chance, help us to work for the benefit of all. Amen.