Requiem for a plant

Isn't it interesting how much we care about meaningless things?

Maybe I shouldn't pull anyone else under the bus with me... It's interesting how much I care about meaningless things.

Sometimes I pray for help to get to work on time or help with a project. Now I'm not saying that I shouldn't pray about everything but I find it awkward whenever I hear something like, "... and then I prayed and miraculously there was one parking spot left right in front of the store!"

I caught myself praying for my favourite sports team to win a playoff game and when they didn't I was really disappointed.

Really disappointed.

I know I'm not alone and here's the proof...


Jonah 4:5-11 NIV
Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 

Then the Lord  God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live." 

But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"

"It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." 

But the Lord  said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"


Jonah got so wrapped up in himself, in his comfort and enjoyment that he lost the plot. He cared more for a plant than 120,000 lost souls. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the good things of this life or taking some refreshment but that's not the mission its extraneous and if left uncontrolled can easily entangle us.

Glogging

If you’ve ever bothered to look at the ground after it’s rained you may have noticed something strange.

Compelled by a lack of oxygen, hundreds of earthworms embark on a doomed migration out of the rain-soaked earth. Eventually they find themselves looking a bit lost on the wet pavement. Unfortunately, the sun will come out again and at that moment their ultimate fate becomes clear. Death. And not an easy death but a slow, painful drying. Today I walk coldly by and leave them to their squirming fate. I’m too busy and I don’t want to get my hands dirty. Sure I feel a twinge of regret when I walk back later on the dry pavement and see their dried bodies curled up, wilted under the unforgiving scrutiny of the sun. Sure I could ignore the puzzled glances from people and shout desperately at the worms, “Turn back!” “The sun will come out again and you will die” “ Why can’t you see that?”

When I was a kid my sister used to take me "glogging". Glogging, for the uninformed, was going out after the rain and saving earthworms. Our mission was clear and we were extremely motivated to look for as many of these little lost worms as possible, scoop them up and deposit them safely back on either a lawn or a garden.

What is a worm that we would even care? Maybe we should’ve saved animals that are more beautiful, more intelligent, more cuddly...

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. - Psalm 22:6

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. - Isaiah 41:14