Wonderful worms and greedy grubs

 I like to sort out the wormery at this time of the year.  It never ceases to amaze me that the worms can work their way through all those different fruit and vegetable peelings and turn them into lovely rich compost!  Now is the time to extract the usable compost, hopefully without extracting too many worms, put back what needs further processing, and make sure the other trays are clean and empty and ready for the next lot of peelings.

 

While happily engaged in this delightfully messy job, I spotted something in one of the trays that made my heart sink.  Little grubs, each curled up like a small letter ‘c’; soft, pallid, creamy-white bodies with brown mouths.  Chafer grubs, in fact.  How they got there I can’t imagine.  They looked quite innocuous lying there, but in a pot of compost they would cause havoc.  Living a few centimetres below the surface, they devour – voraciously – every root they can find.  A plant which looks healthy and flourishing today can be withered and useless tomorrow.  Needless to say, drastic action was required and all I could do was throw the contents of the tray away.

 

Sometimes we are on our guard for big dangers, both in our own lives and in the life of the church, but the small things somehow slip, almost unnoticed, under the radar.  Little lapses in watchfulness, little flirtations with the world and its methods, little compromises, yet how great the damage can be.  How easily we can become useless in the Lord’s service.

 

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep – so shall your poverty come on you like a robber, and your need like an armed man.

                                                                                             Proverbs 6:10-11

 

Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.

                                                                                         Song of Songs 2:15

 

Soldiers of Christ, arise,

And put your armour on;

Strong in the strength which God supplies,

Through His eternal Son;

Strong in the Lord of hosts,

And in His mighty power;

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts

Is more than conqueror.

 

Stand, then, in His great might,

With all His strength endued;

And take, to arm you for the fight,

The panoply of God.

To keep your armour bright

Attend with constant care,

Still serving in your Captain’s sight,

And watching unto prayer.

                             Charles Wesley