The Best of One Ringing Bell: If Something Seems Dead
Last year Ibought a hibiscus while in coastal Florida and brought it home. I loved thecolor of the big full blooms and enjoyed them all spring and summer. In thefall, as frost threatened, I put it in the backyard studio intending to waterit over the winter, so it’d come back in the spring.
But…I forgot towater, and when I finally checked on it, the barren branches screamed neglect.
Dead.
A couple of weeksago, I was at a family member’s house and saw a hibiscus on their patio puttingout leaves.
“In the garageall winter,” I was told. “Maybe watered it twice.”
Oh, if I’d onlyremembered and mourned the loss of the plant, knowing it’d be unlikely to findone like it locally.
I went home andtook the lost cause plant out of the studio intending to throw it on the leafpile near the road and reuse the pot. As I did, I remembered what my gardeningneighbor used to say. “Don’t give up on a plant,” he’d advised. “Hang on to it,give it water, and sometimes they come back.”
I suppose he’dlearn over a lifetime that often when things seem dead, that given time andnurture, they could still revive.
Well, I did what myneighbor said. I soaked the plant and put the scraggly thing out in the sun.
I’ve checked onit several times over the past two weeks. Nothing but brown branches, but atleast Lucy hadn’t made a chew toy out of it. This morning, again, at first Isaw no sign of life.
Sigh.
Then, as I bentcloser, down near the roots, a few tiny little leaves sprouted.
I wanted to havea parade. I hadn’t killed the hibiscus after all.
I was so happy Ieven made Jerry go out and look at it.
For my sake, hefeigned rejoicing. I think I’ve mentioned before that he’s not big ongardening.
But as I’vereflected on my hibiscus, I thought of words by Andrew Murray that I underlinedin the Christian classic, With Christ in the School of Prayer. “Instead of being hopeless orjudging or giving up those who fall, let us pray for our circle, ‘Father! Keepthem in Thy Name; Sanctify them through Thy truth.’ Prayer in the Name ofJesus availeth much; ‘What ye will shall be done unto you.’”
As the water andsun were to my plant, hope, prayer, and God’s word are to those who appear tobe dead to the life in Christ.
Given nurture andtime, God who is always at work, may allow us to see a demonstration of thatwork.
At one point inmy life, I was for sure a lost cause. In fact, because of the way I was living,someone close to me once said, “I can’t help you anymore.”
But somehow, afew did persevere in prayer. And God redeemed my life.
All these yearslater, I’m sad to say there are times, when I look at someone’s life and wonderif there’s hope.
I don’t want toever forget what God has done for me. You may remember the Casting Crowns song "Jesus, Friend of Sinners." i would like to be as Jesus is, even in the direst circumstances.
God’s all aboutraising the dead. Let’s pray for his heart and his eyes to see the peoplearound us. God, help us be a friend to sinners.
I’m going out tostare at my hibiscus. There’s just something amazing about seeing dead thingscome back to life.
var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24260977-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();Beverly Varnado's most recent book is In Search of the Painted Bunting, a middle grade historical from Elk Lake Publishing, #1 in new releases in its category. She is also the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.comTo sign up for her newsletter, go to http://eepurl.com/dHNdsX Beverly Varnado copyright 2023
