So God made a gardener
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COLUMN: CONSIDER THE LILIES
So God made a gardener
by Christine Berglund
tinyurl.com/aqh4art
Some of my readers will remember a time, as I do, when
television was in black and white, and so were
photographs, which took days and days to get processed
into prints.
It was in the same era when most moral questions seemed
to be a simple black and white, also. Right was right,
and wrong was wrong, and two wrongs did not make a
right; no if's, and's, or but's.
You didn't talk back to parents or teachers. You did
your best and behaved in school, or else. Babies were
blessings to be loved and cared for, not a "choice."
Granted, there were wrong-headed people in authority
sometimes, and their rules needed to be questioned. We
thank legends like Rosa Parks or Mahatma Ghandi and
others for challenging the system. But, by and large,
wasn't life simpler and happier when people knew what
was right, and expected their neighbors to know it too?
The garden's vibrant palette of color has faded into
the grey deadness of winter. The monochrome landscape
is dull and dreary. Even the new green growth that
promises floral delights seems fairly nondescript at
this season of the year.
Happily, we were blessed last night by a lovely little
snowfall, and I just got a chance to look at the
digital pictures that I took this morning. Most of
them, while taken in full color, nevertheless could be
mistaken for sepia or old black and white snapshots.
That is how colorless the yard looks at this time.
So yes, there really is black and white in the world
today! Some people may not like that. They don't like
having right and wrong explained , or the contrast
pointed out. But there is a season to do that.
We need to be faithful enough to the scriptures to use
our Photoshop contrast tool when the need arises to
point out right from wrong, black from white.
Sometimes shades of grey are meant solely as an excuse
for slight wrongdoing. We tend to lean toward the grey
areas, thinking it indicates possession of the oft-
overrated attribute of tolerance. Often the answer to a
question really is in black or white.
Absolute truth does exist, and we can find solutions to
moral quandaries through a careful study of Scripture
and the model of the perfect Christ.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free" (John 8:32, KJV).
Other times, we may prefer to shade the truth a little,
maybe make it softer. This is why I have never asked my
husband, "Does this dress make me look fat?" Shading
the truth is still lying.
I dislike the grey winter, which is why it's so nice
when the snow covers it up a little. Even my infamous
"pot ghetto" looked pretty this morning, with the
bunched up pots covered all snug under a blanket of
whiteness.
We have such a covering for our own mistakes. Oh, wait;
I just used a "shades of grey" term for sin. There is a
covering for our sins, our blatant transgressions
against a holy God. That covering is found in Jesus.
"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:7, 8).
We all know in our hearts those "grey areas" that we
are uncomfortable with; whether outright black or maybe
a shade of grey. By the grace of God they are still
covered by the blood of Christ, and He has made us
white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Isn’t that refreshing.
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