What a pretty plant! She arrived close to Mother’s Day as a gift from my daughter and her husband. Her white petals were clearly defined and exquisite, giving her a stately elegance embossed in true beauty. The fine green stem struggled to hold the weight of the flowers, and was grateful for the stake that was next to her. Her petite stature told of secret dreams of wanting to be so much more.
As the heat of summer turned to crisp fall days, her petals started to fall… one at a time…. leaving her beauty a distant memory. She was left with just a few leaves and a barren stem.
However, I had visions of growth, of new blossoms, of a magnificence that she had yet to know. So I read… and read more… learning all about the orchid plant! As I discovered what the plant needed, I knew that she was not going to like what I had to do.
I gathered my supplies. This wasn’t going to be pretty. First of all, I needed to cut back the spike that had held the flowers, close to the leaves. Then, holding the plant securely, I held the plant upside down, and removed it from the safety of her pot. I then placed in her in a new larger pot, with nutrient rich soil, allowing her room to grow. She then was given a good watering.
Over the course of the next year, she needed to be moved around. She couldn’t get too comfortable. At one point, I placed her in a cold room and left her for awhile… and then brought her out into the warmth and sunlight of a sill. I turned her often. Some days she basked in the sun and other days she sat alone in the shadows. And I watched. She sent out air roots but no spikes. I watered and I waited. At times I let her dry out… and then I’d water her with extra fertilizer. And I continued to wait….
Then I saw it!! A new spike was coming out between a couple of the large green leaves. Slowly but surely, it grew heavenward, higher and higher. And then… the blossoms started to form…. Oh, so many of them! And then a second spike grew out of the first. More and more blossoms… promising breathtaking beauty. Quietly, they began to bloom. One at a time… as more and more blossoms burst forth in excitement.
Her quiet beauty hides a story of change, discomfort, hunger, thirst, uncertainty, pain, waiting, unknowns …. and trust.
Has your life, like mine, been through times of feeling like you’re being uprooted… but really God is just allowing you room to grow? Have you been through seasons of excruciating pain, where you’re wondering why…. but God is pruning you with love and wisdom, to allow for new growth? Have you been suffering through sleepless nights of uncertainty…. but God is calling you to let go and trust Him? Have you felt dry and drained as you pour into those around you…. but God is offering you His water, to satisfy your parched and thirsty soul? Have you felt the ache of rejection and aloneness… while God is preparing you for a deeper relationship with Himself?
Thousands of years ago, a prophet named Jeremiah struggled at times with God as well as his own personal weaknesses and failures. And yet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he paints such a clear picture for us of God’s plan for our lives.
"But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out is roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
Jeremiah 17:7,8
Take a deep breath and relax… knowing that God loves you far too deeply to not be at work in your life. He calls us to trust. Completely. With abandon.
Then those around you will see the breathtaking work of God.