When my children bring me weeds.....

Have your children ever brought you weeds? 

you know like the ones below:

Did they come to you with sweet little smiling faces and their hands behind their back, showing the excitement they feel at the VERY idea of blessing their mama with a little present.......

 Maybe like this:

 Or like this.... (as a side note she dressed herself that day!)

If you are at all like me, you may be tempted when they do this to say thank you and then put them in the trash, or worse say something like, "Honey, take those stinky weeds outside, they are going to give me an allergy attack."

For some reason this day, I had the rare and wonderful experience of seeing my daughter's gift with more gentle eyes.

 More Christ-like eyes.

I am not a perfect mother.  Most of the time I am not even sure that I am a very good mother.  So dont get me wrong.  I am not gloating,

It was a privilege. For me. I said, "Thank you!" I put them in a vase. I set them on the counter.

My older three watched and very soon I had more floral yet weedy gifts brought to me.
 In that same, 'I'm bringing you a treasure, mommy!' exited way.
Beaming faces.
Joy.
Grace.

I sat there and really thought about those flowers/weeds.  I thought of my Abba Father.  I thought of my worship, my meager offerings to him., my service,or better said, my attempts at serving in His name. My prayers, my meager efforts at devotion.

HE NEVER THROWS AWAY MY FLOWERS.  HE ALWAYS TAKES MY OFFERING WHATEVER IT IS, HOWEVER PITIFUL. HE PUTS IT IN A VASE, IF YOU WILL. 

HE REJOICES OVER ME. 

Zephaniah 3:17b "...He will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love, he will exult over you with LOUD singing."

What a Father.  What grace.  He takes my weeds and puts them in a vase.  He takes my trash and makes treasures, he takes my ashes and makes beauty. He takes my meager efforts to serve him and through them ACCOMPLISHES his plans.  He uses these earthen vessels.

We should be humbled, blown away.  Our God could have chosen another method to proclaim salvation, to rescue the weak, to defend the Fatherless, to teach and make disciples.  Yet He uses us.  

Just like my kids smiling faces that day, when we serve our King, we are blessed. Yes, sometimes we are stretched.  Sometimes we are pressed, squeezed, tried in the process. But when its all said and done, we are always blessed.  Our King uses us to bring forth his kingdom here on earth. We bring our weeds. He does all the real work. And we are blown away by his goodness.

By the end of all that thinking, I decided, at the very least, I am gonna try to NEVER throw away the weeds again,  (I mean, until they rot in the vase!)

Why would I?
I can have beaming faces!
Joy!
Grace!