Along the side of one garden path, huge clumps of August Lily hostas had formed. They became more crowded every year, and more stressed. I would have to divide them or watch the centers begin to decay.
That’s why I was chopping them apart with the shovel one sunny spring day. Hordes of small green points had pushed from the earth in crowded profusion, and before long a host of leaves would crush upward here. It would be better to divide the plant now and move some of it elsewhere.
With more space to grow, both the roots and the leaves would be healthier. But first came the difficult part.
Tight whorls of little leaves were chopped off above the ground as the shovel sliced through the soil. Tangled roots were yanked apart, cut off, torn away, with parts left dangling and broken. Holes exposed severed roots, and those new leaves full of potential just moments before now lay wilted. When I finished, the entire flower bed looked as if a storm had blasted through.
How forgiving flowers are, I thought as I hauled the divisions away to plant in a new place. I divide them and prune them. I chop them off and hack their roots to pieces. Yet they come back blooming, prettier than ever.
It is said that Mark Twain once wrote, “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds upon the heel that has crushed it.”18
Not for the first time, I wished I were more like my flowers. They don’t sulk, demand explanations, or complain about my terrible actions. They just settle down again, grow, and bloom.
Ephesians 4:32 sums up this attitude of forgiveness: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Our sins were like the shovel, slicing us away from God. Our sins helped to nail Jesus to the cross. Yet God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us for the terrible things we’ve done. Now we need to respond to God’s grace by demonstrating it: turning around and forgiving anyone who hurts or harms us. There are no excuses here. No “If you feel like it, forgive.” No “But if it’s too hard, don’t bother.” No lines like “What they did was unforgivable, you’re not expected to.”
Just, “Forgive one another, even as God, in Christ, has forgiven you.”
Even if we’re torn up, bloodied, sliced to shreds. Even if our heart feels broken, exposed, and degraded.
God wants to help, if we’ll let him. Maybe we can’t understand why he permitted the shovel to be used when what we wanted was to continue as we were. Maybe we can’t understand his reasons any better than those hosta roots could understand mine.
But he wants us to trust him. And to forgive those who wielded the shovel.
| Prayer | Reflection |
| Lord, I know you care when I am hurting because of unkind words or unpleasant actions. Help me to see what you want me to learn; help me to forgive and move on. | What am I struggling to forgive? |