Grass around the Blackberries

I have been pulling weeds and weeds and more weeds in my garden.  We have had some nice rain nearly every single day, which has caused everything to grow really well, especially the weeds and the mosquitoes!  Yes, the tomatoes are growing, too, and the zucchini, the strawberries, the roses, corn, and other lovely things.  We have had some great thunderstorms, with plenty of lightning, which is good for the garden!  Did you know that lightning changes nitrogen in the air into a form plants can use?  It's called "fixation" of nitrogen -- cool, huh?  It sure seems to help things grow.

I love cool, green grass. Getting grass to grow in bare spots in the yard has not gone particularly well so far.  It is, however, growing extremely well all around my blackberries and other plants inside my garden, where it is not welcome.  I guess you could say it is, "growing like a weed!"  It seems ironic to have to pull the grass out around my garden plants, when I WANT it to grow elsewhere and it doesn't!  

I have been developing a healthy appreciation for all kinds of little creatures who live outside.  I am very willing to let them live out in the yard and in the garden, where many of them are very beneficial.  (If they are inside my house, they are not welcome, and are doomed.)  I think I have a mental gauge that defines outdoor creatures as acceptable when they are below a certain size.  When they get a bit too big, they become a bit creepy.  Well, I was out weeding around my blackberries when I looked down at my shoe and THIS GUY was on it.  Of course, since he was WAYYYY over the acceptable size limit in my brain, I screamed and shook him off.  Poor guy...he was motionless for about 10 minutes, then he was gone.  I did not weed the section where he disappeared...

Today, however, I was blessed by hundreds of lovely ladybugs in the garden, and a few nice sized earthworms.  I was happy to see them, and let them know that I appreciate the ladybugs eating all the aphids so my roses don't have any, and the earthworms aerating the soil so my veggies and plants grow better.  

When I look at the tiny insects in my garden or contemplate the absolutely amazing artistry captured in a sunset, I am so humbled -- humbled that the Almighty God of the universe, who drew the polkadots on the the backs of lady bugs and uses the sky as his painting canvas, cares about the details of my life.  In the grand scheme of things, I seem so insignificant.  But God calls me His beloved, His friend, His child.  Wow.  That really is mind boggling.  I am constantly amazed by His Grace.  I have known Him for 51 years.  We've been through a lot together.  I see Him and His handiwork everywhere, and I am daily captivated by His love.

How Great Thou Art (Second Stanza)

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee; How great Thou art!
How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee;
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

(Written by: Carl G. Boberg and R.J. Hughes )

 "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:4 (ESV)

“He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth." Job 37:3