A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a TV program with my dad about the man-made forest in the heart of Japan’s most populous city, Tokyo. The forest surrounds the Meiji Shrine which is the Shinto shrine dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken.
The TV program focused primarily on the forest that surrounded the Meiji Shrine and all the planning that went into the forest’s development. Everything from the type of vegetation to the exact number of trees was calculated. It’s evident that this forest was developed with great attention to detail and care.
I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Japan earlier this year with my brother where I witnessed first hand the care, stewardship and attention to detail that goes into the Meiji Shrine forest’s daily care. For instance, the park has many gravel walkways. Overtime, from rain and pedestrian traffic, the gravel begins to collect unevenly in certain areas. As a result, the park employs personnel with the responsibility of smoothing out the gravel walk ways.
This care, stewardship and attention to detail is kicked up even further during the Autumn season. In this time, leaves begin to fall from the tree tops and accumulate on the forest floor where they decompose and add valuable nutrients to the soil enabling the continued growth of the forest. Of the leaves that fall to the ground, a large amount fall onto the gravel walkways mentioned above. The park employees know how crucial the leaves are to the overall health of the forest. So, instead of throwing away the leaves that fall to the walkways, the park employees carefully collect all the walkway leaves and scatter them back on the forest floor.
There are a couple fingerprints in there and they are so subtle that they can easily be missed.
Your life is like the forest. God takes great care, stewardship and attention to detail when working in your life. He cares for the big things, but he is also attentive to the smallest “leaves” that may fall in your life. These fallen, dead leaves can seem meaningless without looking at the bigger picture. Everyone assumes once leaves fall to the ground they are useless.
In our lives, there are things that from our perspective seem meaningless. Your job isn’t fulfilling or you don’t understand why you have certain gifts. The list can go on. The point is that the things we see as meaningless, are actually full of meaning and purpose. When we take a step back and see our lives from God’s perspective, we can see how the fallen leaves in our lives will ultimately bring new life.
What things in your life do you think are meaningless? I want to challenge you to ask the Lord what his perspective is about those things. I’m sure it will encourage you!
Want to connect with God in the day to day? Click the menu at the top and enter your email for weekly fingerprintss devotionals!
fingerprintss 