Winter's Moss

          

          One of winter's enjoyments in the garden is the mosses that grow.  They are so intricate and  lush,  revealing some of God's detailed creativity.  The varieties and contrasts on even one fence board are amazing!  Our Creator God is an incredible artist and shows us, literally,  in millions of ways His glory.  How can He carefully make beautiful mosses and at the same time care for the entire universe He created?  Our God demonstrates His care and His presence everyday.  He wants to meet us each day.

          You have heard the little sayings, "A rolling stone gathers no moss."  "No moss grows under her."  There can be different meanings in these little sayings, negative or positive, depending on moss being good or bad.  I have heard them in connection with the encouragement to keep moving and busy so that you will accomplish much.  In this little analogy, though, I want to illustrate the opposite.  

          God tells us to be still and know Him.  Unless we learn (and it does take learning this habit) to 

be still in God's presence we cannot know Him.  Reading Psalm 37 this week has me thinking about the connection of "fretting" and "moss".  A fretful person is always agitated,wiggling, moving, chafing, worrying, wearing.  The Hebrew meaning of fret has the idea of growing warm and burning, or becoming angry about something.  This implies the thought that you are impatient that the thing you want is not happening quickly enough.  God wants our "thing" to be Him.  In my little analogy,
moss is a good thing, revealing I am sitting still long enough in God's presence to grow "moss".  God is growing all kinds of things in my soul, enriching and strengthening and blessing it.  He takes the "fret" from me and replaces it with calm trust, peace and joy, patience and gratefulness for His intricate love and care.  And He does it while I am "still" in His presence.

          Moss is really lush and beautiful against the dreariness of winter.  It grows in the most unexpected places delighting the eyes.  That's what I want in my soul during the trials and labors of life.  To grow beautiful in the presence of my Lord Jesus delighting His eyes.                       K.C.