Growing in the Shade
“Lazarus, Come out.” (John 11:43)
I was watching a gardening show on television. A viewer sent in the following question: “I have a little plot of ground, but it is in the shade all day. It receives no direct sunlight at all. What vegetables can I grow there?” The garden expert answered the question this way: “Plant grass, and buy your vegetables at the grocery store. Otherwise you are going to have a frustrating year trying to grow vegetables in the shade.”
CONSIDER how we often try to grow things in the shade and how, as a result, life becomes frustrating. Things simply will not grow in the shade of our private little worlds. Such a preoccupation with our problems and self-interests can create a darkness which not even the most brilliant sunlight can penetrate. When Jesus called Lazarus from the darkness of his tomb, wasn’t he in effect calling us all out of our shady hiding places into the sunlight where we can grow?
O Lord, help us to leave our shady little hiding places. Remind us daily that nothing will grow there. Call us into the world of sunshine where we may grow.
Amen.
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 2/27/2014
