PREFERRING PURPLE OVER YELLOW
If you’re looking for new ideas for your garden this spring, consider planting a pollinator garden. These are year-round locations for the feeding and care of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Well-chosen plants and fertilizer will attract and support these hard workers to your plot. A recent study found that pollinators are drawn to colorful blooms, with bees preferring purple. Butterflies like a big, flat surface to land on, making daisies a good option. To feed caterpillars, you need milkweed. Plant trees and shrubs in the fall and the more delicate flowers in spring after the last frost. A large variety of plants and grasses attract pollinators year-round. “Pollinators have a very important role in the food chain,” writes Lesly Gregory in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “so why not give them a beautiful garden to work in? It’s a small way to make a big impact.”

PREFERRING PLANTS OVER PEOPLE
Finally in Nineveh, Jonah goes to the city center to proclaim that, without repenting, Nineveh would soon be overthrown. From the king on down, they believe and declare a fast and public mourning. Jonah departs the city, so angry that he wants to die. God sends a plant to shade his head, then God sends a worm to destroy the plant. When Jonah objects, God points out that Jonah cared about the plant but not about the people. God cares about the residents—and the animals—of Nineveh.

Questions

• What is your idea of a great garden or yard?
• Why is Jonah so angry in this story?
• When have you needed to regain God’s perspective on something or someone?