Lessons from a houseplant

I'm not very good with plants. I still vividly remember my first plant- a small one that my mom got me as a gift after I landed my first teaching job.  I had two roommates back then, both of whom had green thumbs.  I nearly killed my little plant before one of them took over and made it thrive.  I think it may still be in her house to this day, probably taking over an entire room from what I remember of it. 

My second attempt came years later in Argentina, when I planted a small rose bush in memory of my Gramma.  It produced one beautiful yellow rose before I killed it.  So when I moved here I was bound and determine to fill my house with plants. It's the tropics after all, a world full of living green things- surely I could keep a few house plants alive? 

I bought three.  One got a disease and passed on rather quickly.  The other lasted nearly 9 months before it too, took a turn south.  The third one was scraggly, but alive.  I moved into my new apartment, transplanted some aloe, and waited for the two of them to turn brown.  But they didn't.  I soon found out why.  My new helper/cleaner who comes once a week was tending to them. Soon, she ripped the dead plant out of one of my pots and the next week a new green one appeared there.  A few weeks later I came home to find a plant rooting in water and a small cactus.  Two weeks after that, the rooted plant was in the soil. 

All of this really made me take notice.  So I started watering them more. I mean, I had watered them before, but not that much.  At least one of my former plants drowned so I'm never really sure how much water to give any of them.  And as I have been watering them more, a curious thing has happened.  That old original scraggly plant?  Not so scraggly anymore. New shoots each of the past 2 weeks!  And the one she rooted in water for me?  Growing quickly. 

So what has this taught me?  One, water the plants.  But more than that, it has reminded me of Psalm 1, of the tree planted by streams of water, leaves not withering, but prospering in all they do.  That tree is a metaphor for the person who delights in the law of the Lord and spends time with the Word- day and night. 

Sometimes, I think I am a lot like my original plant- not dead really, but not thriving.  I'm getting enough Biblical "water" to survive, but not enough to reproduce, to be fully alive.  But I suspect that much like my little plant, if I were to water my soul with the Word of God more often than I probably would sprout and grow and live to my fullest.  How often I get distracted, the Bible open on my lap, but nothing really penetrating into my mind.  How often I let the busyness of life crowd out that time.  But the truth is, nothing is better for me than the living water that only Jesus can provide. 

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

 O Jesus, help us to plant our lives by streams of water, of your living water.  Help us to water our souls freely and abundantly so that we may live all the more for your glory!