The King’s Garden Scientist

A scientist is someone who studies the world God has made. Scientists want to find out how and why things work the way they do. Being curious and asking questions can be a good thing. When you learn that fire can burn your skin, you will be careful not to play around fire. When we learn about life, we can make good choices and live better. So let’s be a scientist and study things in the King’s Garden today!

All scientists begin with a question. Our question today is: What can weeds tell us?

Now let’s begin our search for the answers. First, what are weeds? They are plants that grow where we don’t want them. Such as, dandelions in the lawn. Why are they there? We study the grass a bit. It is looking sort of sickly, isn’t it? When the soil is poor and the grass gets weak, the dandelions can grow because they have long roots that dig way down where the good soil is. So a lawn full of dandelions says, “This soil needs fertilizer!”

Other weeds tell us about the soil, too. Cattails and pussy willows say, “Wet soil here!” But wild mustard, a tall weedy plant with yellow flowers, grows where the soil is crusty and hard. Did you know that weeds could tell you so many things?

Now let’s take a look at some other kinds of weeds. These kind are called weedy tempers. Have you heard of a “temper tantrum”? When a little child doesn’t get the toy he wants, he starts kicking and screaming. What a fuss! Why does he do it? Well, there is a reason, and it is because he is very selfish and hasn’t been trained.

The Bible teaches us about many other bad tempers and why people have them. A jealous temper is disliking someone because of what they have or what they can do. It seems to pop up for no reason, but look closely! If we really love someone, we don’t mind if they have better things than us. So jealousy tell us, “This heart needs more love!” The bitterness temper is the kind that makes us feel angry because someone wasn’t fair. When we see those bad roots growing we know that we haven’t forgiven others. But Jesus says we must forgive others before God can forgive us.

The reason scientists study, is to know how to live better. Now that we know these “weed secrets,” what should we do? Next time we see a weed growing, let’s ask the Lord to fix our heart problems.