Nature's Lessons

I had a house plant that wasn't doing very well.   It was pretty ugly, actually.  There were just three scrawny stems coming out of it.   Finally, I decided that I should just take it away since it was most unattractive.  I pulled out the three sick pieces that were left.  Absentmindedly,  I placed the container it in the window of the sun room and forgot about it. In a very short period of time, a lush new growth had appeared.

I remember our trip to state parks out west, where wild fires were common.  Despite the destruction of the trees and the seeming devastation,  the forest floor was awash with new green growth. New life could emerge where the light could finally penetrate.  Nature has a way of renewing itself.

In a way,  this is the same theme of my sermon tomorrow on Elijah and Elisha.  The prophet Elijah came to the end of his ministry, worn out and weary.  God told him to 'pass his mantle' to Elisha,  which he did, and Elisha took up the prophet's ministry, and Elijah enjoyed a lively chariot ride home.

Life is a process of birth, death, and resurrection, whether you are a plant or a prophet, or even a church,  I suppose.  So often we stubbornly hold on to something that needs to be put out of its misery, when letting it go allows for it to be renewed!

Letting go of those three scrawny stems certainly provided an opportunity for the plant to begin again, with great vigor and enthusiasm!