Growth

While on vacation with the Jarrett's several months ago, Kevin made a grocery run and came back with a flower kit for me.

Corey and I aren't plant people.  My grandma gave me a tree as a wedding gift.  It was supposed to be easy maintenance- plant it in the ground and let nature do it's thing.

We killed it.

We planted new grass in the front yard of our house in North Carolina.

I drowned it.

And Kevin comes bounding back to the condo with bulb, soil, and pot in hand.  "What am I going to do with this?" was my first (and really only) reaction.  The flower kit sat around our apartment for months.  During the move to our new home, it was thrown in a box.  After all the unpacking, Corey opened the kit.  The bulb had already started to grow and the growth was completely white.  We feared the flower was dead before we even started.

But as the weeks went by, healthy growth slowly began.  The stem turned green and began to stretch out of the onion looking bulb.  Each morning I noticed the plant getting a little larger.

Then it grew like crazy!  Every day it seemed to grow several inches.  The last few days, green became red and the flowers finally bloomed.

I've found great joy in watching this plant go from a hard ball of earth to a radiant flower.  The growth I witnessed made me want to water it more, to make it grow bigger and faster.  I resisted because the kit gave specific watering instructions.  I knew it needed enough water to grow, but too much water would be counterproductive.

What a beautiful picture of ministry!

1 Corinthians 3:5-7  After all, who is Apollos?  Who is Paul?  We are only God's servants through whom you believer the Good News.  Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.  I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering.  What's important is that God makes the seed grow.

We can plant the seed and give it what it needs to grow, but only God can cause the growth.  We can't control how fast or how much it grows, but that isn't of our concern anyway.  We are simply to create an environment of growth and get out of the way so God can do His thing.

God, help me to be a better gardener.