A Lesson From My Plants: Part 1

My grandma has been on my mind a lot lately. I am not sure why, as she died several years ago. (Perhaps it has to do with missing my mom) I go to think about one thing and then wonder if I got that from my grandma.

As I started to write this post, I mused over where my love for plants came from. Grandma. Now my love and her love are not in the same hemisphere. She had plants throughout her house and a gorgeous well manicured yard. I have never cared too much about a yard and I only have some plants. However, I don’t consider my plants expendable. So when life dealt me a trick hand, my plants, all of them, had to come along for the ride. They were by no means happy- disturbed from their places of habitat and their constant tropic heat. But almost all of them were resilient throughout the journey.

Part 1: The plant that wasn’t. This plant didn’t have it hard at all. So when I looked at it the other day, I mused over what could be amiss. Some of my plants had to stay in the car multiple 90 degree days…but not this one. It always had enough water, and actually turned this way in the new environment.

Now this is the plant that was blooming in December after months of neglect. Those blooms were such a source of hope. God can do anything, no matter the situation.

But sometimes God chooses not to intervene. And things die. Question is, how do we respond when things die? What does that do to our faith?

I plan to throw the bulb in a pot outside. If it blooms from the dirt, so be it! If it doesn’t, oh well! I know the plant has what it takes to be resilient. It bloomed on its own in a cold empty house! The plant is beautiful when it blooms, but it’s dying.

Sometimes things in our life are dead, or not growing, or refusing to bloom because they don’t want to. And instead of moving on, we sit and try to coach the dead, the disinterested, the divested thing- learn from me and my plant. Move on!

Now for anyone worried or concerned that this is the fate of all the plants, stay tuned. There is a space for pruning, patience, and renewal, but you have to discern the situation. If it’s move on time, stop hesitating and bloom beyond!

Comments

But What Are You Really Waiting For?

Waits could be my middle name, especially during the summer months. Like clockwork summer ushers in a wave of transition and pressure points where waiting is critical. Have I mentioned that I hate to wait? I don't mean wait for an appointment. I am prepared for that. I have numerous means of distracting myself as I multitask and complete other projects. I mean waiting for something to happen in life that is pivotal to the next stage. I mean waiting, when you want to DO, but there isn't much to do other than wait. This is the sort of waiting that stretches me every summer. I am growing though. Growing and learning. Once upon a time this waiting season would have me paralyzed. Now I consistently move forward, but I find myself pausing to check the status of projects far too often. The other day I found myself questioning what it was that I was actually waiting for. Oftentimes God has handled something. He has told us so. But we stay scanning the horizon for the proof. I had to...

Tell Me More»

Happily Ever After?

I was speaking with a friend the other night, and she commented that she didn’t remember the last time I was so happy. The reason she couldn’t remember was because any sort of happiness I had experienced previously had been so fleeting. She and I had met at the end of 2020. My whole life had gone through restructuring, so 2021 seemed promising. Purposeful but painful is what 2021 turned out to be. Rather than height to height, 2021 traversed heights to valleys. What was hopeful collapsed. What was stable shifted to shaky. And what was foreign and unknown became my safety zone. I went from the familiar streets of DC to the mountains of North Carolina. I went from being one of many almost everywhere I went, to one of the only African Americans in the area. It was hard. Injustice was real, and the marriage I had been hoping for had imploded. 2022 brought new everything. New job. New place to live. New title: single mom. Constant change in which I found it hard to find more than...

Tell Me More»

What would you grab if your building was on fire?

-bible -planner -wallet -laptop -ipad -phone charger -phone In hindsight I would have grabbed some of my journals. Recently in my reading for school I was struck by a period in church history in which people did not know how to regard the Holy Spirit. The people often viewed Him as the lesser part of the Trinity. I too, could see myself as guilty. I would hear a prompting and debate, discuss, ponder, forget, and maybe on a good day obey. However, would I treat Jesus in such a manner? Or God the Father, if He manifested, perhaps in a burning bush? I would hope not! So lately I have been trying to be more sensitive to the urgings of the Holy Spirit and immediately responsive . Wednesday afternoon the prompting was to go to sleep. Now I did wonder if I was being lazy or trying to avoid life. 7 past due assignments will do that to you! However, it was true that my studying was proving futile as I dozed after every few minutes. I took a 3 hour n...

Tell Me More»

PSALM 84

Search This Blog