Flowered Faith

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

I received a beautiful white orchid from our youngest daughter for my birthday fifteen months ago. It seemed the flowers would last forever. They were so lovely, standing in the middle of my island in the kitchen for all the household traffic to see. If a plant can be proud, this one was proud!

I'd heard you're supposed to 'water' Orchids with ice cubes, so I did that. Once a week, faithfully, my little birthday plant's roots were shocked to accept that its living water would be ice cold for all of its life, and there was nothing it could do about it.

The perfect white flowers eventually failed, although we were amazed at how long they blessed us with their presence. But what was left were these two sticks where these extraordinary beauties used to hang out. (See what I did there?)

I didn't know what to do with this plant, so I just kept up my usual 'freeze the poor thing to wake it up and pay attention' watering. And the darndest thing, it kept growing through the winter. Huh.

By spring, it seemed to me that this girl needed some new digs. She had grown up, and out of her current situation, there was no room in her existing space to put anything anymore. Her roots were shooting outside her place, and I am sure it was embarrassing for her around the philodendrons.

So, one Saturday morning, I took this plant out into the garage, gathered up all my repotting tools, including the very best potting soil known to mankind, uh, OK, known to me, and put this plant right into a huge pot and place it in front of the perfect window for a tad of daily sunshine.

And, still watering it once a week, I compassionately switched from ice cubes to straight-up tap water. This experience had to be much better, right?

Last week a friend of mine came by to visit. She last came here a while ago, so I gave her the tour. She looked at all my plants, and I proudly showed her my first baby lemon tree from seed. Then I saw a little concern slowly make its way across her face. She was standing by my orchid plant.

"Do you have any Orchid food?" she asked. "Uh, no, not at the moment," I answered. At the same time, my brain scrambled for any information it might contain about Orchids having their own food line. "Why?" I asked. "Well, I've never seen an Orchid planted in potting soil; mine do pretty well in the Orchid moss. And the food is simple to give them to help them along as well.", she answered without a hint of judgment.

After our visit, I went over to check out my large Orchid placed prominently in my house's high sunshine and people traffic area. To my horror, I saw it…a yellow leaf! When did that happen? How did that get there? What is going on here?

Two days later, after I "googled it," I headed straight to Lowes™ to pick up the Orchid care items on my list. Good grief! I didn't know I was smothering its leaves with heavy soil and it was dying a slow death.

I hadn't researched this type of plant to know there's a moss mixture it thrives in. I didn't know its roots spread out on the top of its pots to breathe in that fresh air, stretch out, and tan like my best friend on the beach or something. I didn't know because I didn't inquire. I didn't ask because I just went along with what I had heard. I went all with the things I had heard because, for the most part, I listened to those things from people I could trust to know more than me.

So often, we Christians crash in our walks. We get offended and walk away from "the church." We don't like a sermon because we become convicted. It's not their business if I choose not to change or forgive someone. Sometimes the people in our church circles step on our roots. Others can try to drown us under the heavily weighted soil of legalism and their 'thou shalt nots".

I get it. Shoot, in fact, I did it. I walked away. I didn't seek. I didn't ask. I didn't dig through the millions of characters in the Word written for me to understand how to do this life thing. I spent my time in my own little pot, getting comfy and soaking up whatever life would hand me. Then, of course, I got angry when the ice-cold negativity of human behavior crossed my roots and triggered my prodigal self.

I re-planted, uprooted, and moved to an unfamiliar place. And for nearly a decade, I was dying slowly under the heavily weighted soil of my sin and terrible choices. The food I was taking in wasn't even close to the sustenance I needed because the world had nothing of life to offer me.

When I finally returned to Jesus, the first thing He did right after he hugged me, with an unforgettable hug, was wash off my roots. I was pulled out of that mire-infested soil. But it was necessary to wash off the remnants of the oxygen-depleting thickness of the poisonous sources in my life, or I would permanently be impaired to some degree.

Then, He planted me in soil that was correct for me. This soil is rich with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These nutrients help me to produce amazingly healthy fruit I could never bear in my own power. Then, He placed me in a church where I received the perfect amount of Sonshine weekly. And finally, in our daily times together, He waters me with living water that refreshes my soul.

After this experience, I wrote my friend a fun text message pretending to be from my Orchid; "Dear Aunt Linda, Thank you for telling my mom she might have me in the wrong soil. She bought Orchid stuff today and repotted me. And within two hours, I began raising my leaves. I am no longer smothering under the weight of the wrong soil! Honestly, I don't know how the Philodendrons do it! Thank You!"

Be mindful of the pot you're in. Know the things that will bring death to your life. Accept living water and reject the warm water of what the world has to offer. Allow yourself, roots and all, to stretch out in the Sonshine and receive. And, finally, and most importantly, seek with all your heart, and you will find in Him what you need to live this life the way He intends. I mean, who needs Google? Our Father knows everything. So, seek Him.

Pass the Grace,

Jan