Grace and I have about 70 rose bushes in our yard and when they all bloom the view is spectacular. It is so striking that most people want to stick their nose in a bloom and take a sniff. Usually you don’t have to do that as the yard has a perfume laden scent. The roses are planted in a variety of beds which are generously spread with pine bark mulch. The mulch is a great medium to grow roses. It is also a good medium to grow weeds. Without a doubt the weeds are easier to grow and require no maintenance at all.

When the roses are in bloom the weeds are there, sprouting out of the mulch and demanding attention. Most people focus on the rose blooms but there are those who see the weeds. Those people might go to a forest of beautiful trees and notice that two or three of them are dead. By concentrating on the very few dead trees they miss the glory of the whole forest.

I recently received a review of my book, The Red Shoe. It was posted on Amazon and is the only 2 rating I have received. Most people rated the book a 4 or a 5. I’m not upset at the person who gave it a 2. They have a right to their opinion and I’m sorry they didn’t like the book. They pointed out several errors and they were enough to keep them from reading the book. Because of mechanics they missed the story. What most people liked about the book was the story. Not the commas or the manner of writing but the story.  The person didn’t finish the book so they missed the story.

To me, that’s like refusing to enter a beautiful woodland because there is a dead tree near the entrance or maybe never entering my yard to see the roses because there are some weeds in the flower bed outside the fence. Some people miss the story of Jesus because they are put off by some flaw they think they see in the Bible. I have had people tell me they won’t go to church because there are hypocrites there. So they miss all the wonderful, loving and caring people in that church because of a few “weeds”.

This “can’t see the forest for the trees” syndrome robs us of so much of what God has provided in this world. Is there evil here? Sure. Is it all evil? No. There are roses in the weeds, green trees among the dead and honest Christians among the few hypocrites. Don’t allow a few misplaced punctuation marks cause you to miss the big story. The story is everything. Ignore the weeds, smell the roses.  Read the Bible, go to worship, enjoy the beauty of God’s world.