Week 3 to Make This World a Better Place (and more beautiful)

I've been thinking a lot about this week's assignment trying to narrow the options, and I recalled something from my book Simple Things to Make This World a Better Place. A section of the book is filled with many things that other people have done to fulfill that quest, and one was my uncle who was a rural postal carrier in mid-century California.

Uncle Hub (pronounced "Hoob,"short for Hubert) drove miles in the country to make sure that all of his rural patrons received their mail. During much of his route, he encountered land that was void of much beauty − muddy ditches, piled ruble, etc. so he decided to do something about it, not just for himself, but for others too.

My uncle purchased a number of hearty flower seed packets and distributed them from his vehicle, a handful here and a handful there. It wasn't long before he was rewarded with beautiful flowers to grace the long stretches of desolation. And, I'm sure many others appreciated the gesture, but wondered how the sudden growth of beautiful flowers occurred.

Now, I'd like you to think of some unattended areas where you might do something similar. It could be as simple as some bare spots in your own yard or your neighbor's. It could be an empty lot, a pathway or jogging trail, or maybe a stretch of roadway where nothing seems to be growing.

Of course, not all your labor will produce fruit; it certainly didn't for Jesus. But even so, it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. A flood starts with a drop of rain, and we never know what little act we perform can make a big difference for someone else. So let's try to beautify this world and see what happens.

My past week included giving two packets of Marigold seed to my neighbor who loves to plant flowers. (I received them from one of the organizations to which I donate, and I wanted to pass them on to an individual who would use them.) I also wrote an email praising someone who went out of the way to research an unexplained charge on one of my credit cards.That's just two out of the seven entries in my journal. How did you do with the reuse instead of recycle challenge last week?