Lessons from Nature 20 January 2014

I just love nature!  There is so much to learn from it; so much to be thankful for.  Just yesterday I was looking at my plants that I had brought in from outside about a month ago and contemplating tossing the palm and the rubber tree back outside because they looked so very dead.  Surely nothing would grow after this length of time.  When I had brought them in initially- they and the Christmas cactus and bamboo-like plant- they were all frost-bitten and quite dead.  I know there was hope for the latter two plants because there was still green leaves amidst the dead and dying branches, but there appeared to be no life at all for the palm and rubber trees.  So I cut back all the dead- in most cases leaving only a stump of the original plant- huge cut-backs for plants that were once flourishing but it needed to be done.  If the good, alive part of the plants had to still try to send resources and nutrients to something that would never regrow, then the alive parts wouldn't receive the full benefit of the incoming resources.  The pruning was harsh, yes, but utterly necessary.  So Bamboo and Christmas began to grow again, new shoots on stumps, new branches, new leaves all stretching their limbs and looking towards the sun, the energy source- that which gives them color and strength to thrive. With nutrients and water they will grow, but only with the sun can they truly thrive.  And their roots must be firmly planted too, else when a strong wind or heavy rain come, they will be uprooted.

Rubber tree looking dead

Palm looking dead- Is there any hope?

Then there's Rubber and Palm.  I had cut back Rubber towards the beginning but hadn't cut back Palm till yesterday. Both showed no signs of life from the moment I brought them in till now, but I faithfully watered them week after week holding out tossing them in case something was working under the surface.  Sometimes we need to just be patient.  We may not see the changes occurring, but if we wait patiently, God is behind the scenes working miracles, waiting for just the right time to reveal himself.  This is the case with Rubber and Palm.  I have been using Rubber's container to place all the dead clippings from the other plants and was getting ready to finally declare that nothing was going to grow there and I'd just place Rubber outside and figure out something to do with the pot in the spring.  I was willing to accept that I had killed the plant and despite bringing it inside a warm house and watering it and cutting it back, it wasn't going to come back to life.  So I finally decided to cut back Palm, remove all the dead to see if any life existed there.  Then I removed the dead and took a closer look, what did my eyes behold, but new shoots- three of them! I was so shocked.

And then, when I was removing all the dead plant matter from Rubber to take outside to compost, when I returned, squatted down and took a closer look, I was pleasantly surprised to behold new shoot coming up along one of the stumps.  God is so faithful and nature so resilient.  All my main plants flourished this summer, sprouting tons of new plants and then the frost all but killed them, but with time, patience, and the proper care and conditions, new life begins again.  I just love how God designs nature.

Two new Palm shoots

New Palm shoots

New Rubber tree growth

I look at all this and can relate it to our human condition and our relationship with God and Jesus and other believers.  Life can be going so well for us.  The days are sunny; there's money in the bank; relationships and work are going well.  And even when it rains, we put on rain boots, head out with an umbrella and dance and praise God's name!  Things couldn't be better.  We are close to God, on a mountaintop.  But then something comes along in life, perhaps the death of a loved one or a job loss, and we feel defeated.  We feel like we are slowly dying.  Perhaps we doubt God's sovereignty and we feel He's far away.  All the days seem gloomy and even when there is sunshine and perhaps we begin to feel hope, life rains on us again, and we no longer feel much joy in that for we are already feeling so low and broken and damaged.  

But God is faithful and He is always working behind the scenes even when we are not aware.  And sometimes to bring us back to health, to a place of thriving, He needs to prune us- to remove all that does not bear fruit- all that is dead, just like the plants.  That could be bad habits, negative influences, removing from us the strength we find in idols and the strongholds we cling to like perfectionism, alcoholism, authoritarianism.  And once He brings us to that place of brokenness- once He's cleaned the house of our soul and removed from us all that was destructive, then and only then, can the true work of healing and rebuilding begin.  He can begin to "rebuild the ancient ruins, and restore the places long devastated, and renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations" (Isaiah 61:4).  Like the plants (Rubber and Palm) new growth was forming under the surface, but it couldn't be sen until the dead was cut back and removed.  And like Christmas and Bamboo, new life would only begin to grow  once the dead was removed because growth happens from the stumps.  So just as each plant is unique and requires unique care (though all fundamental needs are the same), so is each individual human unique. We each require food, shelter, air, and water to live.  But to truly thrive these must be in the right proportions and ideally the food nutritious and well prepared, the air and water clean, and the shelter warm and safe, but to truly thrive everyone needs love.  We need love from others (neighbors, friends, co-workers, family) and we need love from God.  We need to know we are important to someone and that we are not neglected, forgotten, and abandoned.  Like the plants, they may have survived the winter if left outside in the cold and perhaps sprouted back in the spring or summer when the conditions were more favorable, and perhaps begin to thrive only to be thwarted again when winter came, but because they were brought to warmth, watered, pruned, and care for, the process of healing and eventually thriving goes much quicker when supported and surrounded by the love of others.  Likewise for people.  If they grow up in a very negative environment devoid of love from others and not given the best in resources to survive, they may eventually grow and perhaps thrive if something changes, but it will be a slow and arduous process.  Nothing is impossible with God though and He is faithful, but healing and thriving work so much better and happen so much quicker when surrounded by the love of others and God.  People who can feed you when you are hungry, house you when you need a place to rest your head, listen to you and speak wisdom into your life, help you to sort through the hard stuff and begin to remove all the dead with God's loving guidance and help, and tell you to lift your head to see the bright blue sky and feel the warmth on your face because as Jacob said yesterday, when we look at a blue sky, that color triggers an involuntary release of endorphins that begins to lighten our mood and we can't help but to smile.  :)  That's another thing we learn from plants- they are always moving to find the sun.  Have you ever taken a house plant placed next to a window and rotated it so the leaves face away from the sun?  In a day or two those leaves will begin to shift direction so they once again face the sun so as to best soak up its radiance, warmth, and energy so they can grow and thrive.  Perhaps we should take our cue from the plants and continuously seek to face the Son?  For if we stay in contact with the Son, then we are filled and revitalized again.

Some verses to ponder:

Galatians 6:9-10 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Isaiah 55:9-11 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

In response to the first verse, this can be seen by my pruning and continuing to water the plants even when they appeared dead.  I thought about becoming "weary in doing good" in caring for the plants but "at the proper time" I began to see the harvest.  We must remember this when we encounter people which we often do on a daily basis.  Do not be discouraged when you seem to be getting no where and making no progress with someone.  Your role in their life might be to simply plant seeds in their life or to water seeds already planted, or perhaps God has given to you the task of peeling back layers and pruning and often these are the toughest days where no end is in sight, but God is faithful and there will be a harvest, and if we are able to witness that harvest then all the more to strengthen our faith, but either way, "do not become weary in doing good!"

And my favorite part from Isaiah 55:9-11 is that the rains and snow do not return to heaven or the skies before first watering the earth and causing it to bud and flourish, yielding food to eat and new seeds to plant and the same is with God's word.  His word doesn't return void.  His Word brings life- His Word is life.  Deuteronomy 32:46-47 "…Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day…They are not just idle words for you- they are your life.  By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." And I leave you with this glorious image from Isaiah 55:12-13, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.  This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever."  How splendid is that, the mountains and hills singing and the trees clapping their hands and in place of thorns, plants of beauty.  Till next time, thanks for listening (reading).