Don't Worry - Be Happy! (Plants)

 

PopTart and Bean, two sisters and the very best of friends, loved playing together in their big, sunny backyard. PopTart was the oldest and always coming up with deep thoughts, while Bean had a curious mind and loved asking questions.

One warm afternoon, they were lying in the grass after a game of tag. Bean plucked a blade of grass and twirled it between her fingers. “Do you think this grass gets tickled when we walk on it?” she asked with a giggle.

PopTart laughed but then fell quiet, her eyes fixed on the field of grass around them. After a moment, she said, “You know, Bean, I’ve been thinking about something.”

“What’s that?” Bean asked, rolling onto her stomach to listen.

PopTart pointed to the grass. “Look at all the plants out here. The grass, the flowers, the trees—they never worry about anything. They don’t care where they’re planted, or what they look like. They don’t worry about whether they’re tall or short, bright or plain. They just grow and do their best with what they’re given.”

Bean frowned thoughtfully, pulling at another blade of grass. “You’re right. They don’t seem to care at all. But people… people are different. We worry about everything!”

“Yeah,” PopTart said. “People worry about how they were born, whether they’re in the right place, if they have the right name, or even the right color of skin. We’re always thinking about what we don’t have instead of just doing the best with what we do have—like the grass does.”

Bean sat up, looking around at the grass and the flowers nearby. “Do you think God made plants this way on purpose? To remind us not to worry?”

“I think so,” PopTart replied. “Remember what Jesus said in the Bible about the lilies of the field? He said they don’t worry about anything, but God still takes care of them and makes them beautiful.”

Bean’s face lit up. “Oh, I remember! That’s in Matthew 6! Jesus said we don’t have to worry because God loves us even more than flowers or grass, and He’ll take care of us too.”

PopTart smiled. “Exactly. Plants don’t worry about how they’re growing or what they look like—they just grow the way God made them. Maybe we should try to be more like them. Instead of worrying about things we can’t change, we can trust God and do our best with what we’ve been given.”

Bean plopped back down in the grass with a sigh. “That sounds nice, but it’s hard not to worry sometimes.”

PopTart reached over and squeezed her sister’s hand. “It is hard, but we can pray and ask God to help us trust Him more. Just like the grass trusts the sun and rain to help it grow, we can trust God to take care of us.”

Bean looked up at the sky, her eyes shining with a new thought. “You’re right. And maybe, just like how the grass makes the world prettier and helps the earth, we can grow into who God wants us to be and make the world better too!”

PopTart grinned. “See? You’re already learning from the grass!”

The two sisters lay there for a while, watching the clouds drift by and thinking about how God takes care of everything He’s made. As they got up to go inside, Bean said, “Next time I feel like worrying, I’m going to think about the grass and remember how much God loves me.”

“Me too,” PopTart agreed.

And with that, the sisters walked hand in hand back to the house, ready for whatever adventure God had planned for them next.