If you’ve been around 7 Days Time very long, you probably know that “Green Thumb” is NOT on my resume.
It’s not really for lack of trying or desire… But it’s just not. (I mean seriously… Remember how excited I got when my Peace Plant Chloe actually bloomed?)
Every time we move to a new house, I get a random surge of energy to try and be all outdoorsy-gardener-ish.
I go to a local greenhouse and spend way too much money on plants/flowers I will likely kill before the season is done.
During this last move, I feel like I did much better. I strategized a little bit, purchased higher quality vegetation and even made an effort to make sure and water my beautiful flower bed every few days during the “drought” that is Washington summers.
There were only a few casualties… until… I left for like three weeks in the summer.
And completely forgot about my flowers. I didn’t even remember to tell my husband to water them. (Not that he would have anyways– he has issues about exerting much effort on a home that is only our for a very short amount of time. Which I get…)
I didn’t even think about it until I arrived home and peered out my front windows… It was all crispy, sans two stems of pathetic, wilted snap dragons barely clinging to life.
I might have cried a little.
But lesson learned, right?
Over the years, I have also learned how important it is to follow the instructions that come on those nifty little tags with the plants. They give guidelines like “Partial sun/shade,” “Abundant/minimal water,” etc.
I was thinking about this the other day and how it relates to our faith.
We are hypothetical “Jesus plants,” that, during different seasons of our lives, have a variety of requirements from the Lord to help us grow.
Let me explain.
Sometimes we experience full light… Things are going well, everything is clicking. Those are seasons of basking in His glory. (My favorite season…)
Then, there are seasons of darkness and shade. This often presents itself as times of waiting or uncertainty… Not much fun, but absolutely necessary to grow in our faith.
We also have moments when the moisture is just right. Cool, calm, collected, peaceful. Everyday awesomeness.
Then there are the floods. We feel like we can barely keep our head above water.
Of course, we have seasons of drought– things are dry, our hearts just feel “crispy” and we wonder when God’s gentle rains will return.
Finally, we have what I will call “seasons of excessive fertilizer.” Yep, those moments when the, um, poo, really piles up.
But later, isn’t it the “fertilizer” that helps us blossom into an even more beautiful product of God’s love?
I vote yes.
Friends, what season are you in right now? I always love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment here.
Let’s be honest… all these ingredients needed for faith-growth are not exactly pleasant or easy. But we CAN trust in our Gardener– that He sustains us, day by day, moment by moment.
And He doesn’t even need one of those little instruction tags.
Growing In Christ,
“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” ~1 Corinthians 3:7
