Clearance Plants

When I was a child, my mom would buy the clearance plants at the grocery store.  The ones that were mostly brown and all the flowers long gone.  However, she would see one or two leaves that were still green and decide that it could be saved.  Granted, having eight children on just my father’s small income, meant that if she wanted to buy plants, the clearance section was all she could afford.  Yet my mom brought those plants back to life seemingly miraculously.  She definitely had what is commonly called a green thumb.

I took it for granted growing up that every plant would live no matter what state they began in.  Since I have learned to be economical, or in less flattering terms – cheap, I follow her example and buy the discounted, ugly plants.  I know what it is supposed to look like and can see the potential in two little green leaves surrounded by a clump of brown sticks.  I have learned to have faith in the power of life.

It wasn’t until I lived with my mother-in-law that I met someone who was convinced she could not grow indoor plants.  The problem was not that she had a black thumb; it was merely she did not know how to care for plants properly.  By the time I moved out, my mother-in-law had several plants, all of which are doing wonderful, including an olive tree.

What is the difference between my two moms?  Just this, my mom had learned how to care for plants from her father.  Each plant is unique and requires a different water and light amount.  My mother-in-law just needed to learn how to understand a plant’s needs and act accordingly.  Yes I do believe that some people have talents in certain areas, but everyone can grow a plant.

That was the first job in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve walked and talked with YHVH and took care of the garden.  I am sure it was a phenomenal place to be, and weeds in our definition of the word, did not exist.  However, taking care of the land and plants was Adam’s first job description.  Perhaps many of the conversations Adam had with YHVH were about the garden.  That makes me envision YHVH as a gardener.

He plants His seed in our lives and teaches us to help it grow by watering it with prayer and fertilizing it with the Word.  Of course the dirt of your life should be replaced with rich and clean soil.  Cigarette butts, broken bottles, and bitter earth do not promote the lush green growth that mark healthy plants.

I believe that YHVH looks at us the same way my mom looked at the clearance plants.  To the impatient person who wants instant beauty and perfection, those plants are passed over as unworthy.  To YHVH, who looks at our broken lives struggling in sin; He sees the potential and picks up that pot, takes it home, and gives it love.