Pollen-Nation

It's that time of year. Yep, lovely new green leaves sprout on the three oak trees in my backyard. SNEEZE! And yellow strands of their lovely pollen rain everywhere. No, I mean everywhere. See the picture? My husband had to climb up on the roof and sweep the pollen mounds off. My green van is now permantly yellow. My white Golden, is now a Yellow Golden everytime he goes outside. Then there's always the strands on his tail, our shoes or even in our hair that hang on for dear life and sneak inside. SNEEZE! (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)

This is the worst year I've seen. Pollen has invaded my life-it's no longer free. I have swept the floor more in the past two weeks than in a normal two months. The enemy is without and within. SNEEZE! Literally.

How can something so annoying and messy turn the oaks into a calm, green, lush oasis? As a writer, I have made many messes-just ask my friends. But sometimes a beautiful thing happens. Many of my bad habits want to hang on for dear life and make a mess. I must constantly pick them out of my writing to restore order and flow.

God takes our mess, both inside and out and delivers us from "pollen-nation." We all have strands we cling to and try to bring them along, even hidden, but as a child of God, the Father picks them out one by one. He sets us free, cleans us up so we can flower and grow into "A tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-" Psalms 1:3

So, I guess, I have to thank God for the SNEEZE pollen, for it reminds me of me.

Sniff, Sneeze, Cough,

karen