Throughout the Bible, God uses nature to explain His Word. In Genesis 1:28, He tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Then in John 15:8 Jesus says that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. These are a few of the many examples in the Bible. Recently God taught me a lesson about me based on my plant, Jack. Jack was named after “Jack and the Beanstalk” because he was growing so tall and had reached the ceiling. This is quite amazing since I do not have a green thumb which is evident by the lack of plants in my home and the number that have died in my possession.
Nonetheless a few years ago, my aunt gave me a small, rooted stalk in a little white bucket. She instructed me to put it in a pot with soil (and rocks if the pot had no means for water to drain). She also said to water it when the soil looks dry and face it toward the sunlight. As a self-identified rule follower, I did just as she said. Lo and behold, it started to grow and grow until it was too heavy for the small pot it was in and eventually fell over! It didn’t fall to the ground, but it was stopped by a chair at the head of my kitchen table. I contacted my aunt for advice, and she told me to purchase a larger pot and repot it. Well, I left it leaning against the chair for about a week until I made time to buy a bigger pot, a stand with wheels and more dirt. Bigger pot meant heavier pot.
As I prepared to repot the plant, I noticed that the stalk was bent in a perpendicular fashion over the seat of the chair. God showed me that when we fall and don’t get back up again, we begin to conform to where we are. The longer we stay down, the harder it is to stand up on our own again. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” Unfortunately, Jack never straightened up even with water, sunlight and a stick for support. I eventually had to cut it where it was bent. Just like Jack we often must be pruned in order to grow or regrow. Like how getting a haircut to remove dead and split ends allows the hair to grow more. Quite the opposite of what we would think.
Nonetheless, once I cut the stalk at the bent part, new leaves and a new stalk began to grow out of the soil. I was so excited that Jack began to grow again. Now I never stopped calling the plant Jack even though it was no longer touching my ceiling. I spoke in faith believing that Jack would flourish again. If you recall, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham so that he was called “Father of many nations” even before he had a child. I was calling those things that be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)
Now fast forward several months later, as my Pastor preached on “Finding God in Your Season,” I thought about Jack. During my move, the leaves where damaged in transit. I started to break off the tattered pieces but decided not to as it was difficult to do so without destroying the entire leaf. However, I continued to water it and turn it toward the sun that shone through my patio door. After a few weeks, I noticed new leaves growing from the top and from the soil.
The tattered leaves represent my life being damaged by the storms of trials, tribulations, heartache, embarrassment, shame and discouragement over the previous 15 months. Yet I survived the change in season just as Jack survived the move to my new home. The leaves stayed connected to the stalk, the roots were nourished and brought forth new life. I stayed connected to God through prayer, fasting, reading the Word and fellowshipping with my sisters and brothers in the Lord. Many encouraged me not knowing that my leaves were in distress. Nonetheless God knew and is continuing to make everything beautiful in His time just like He did for Jack. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11) and God was and is in every season of my life. Just as Jesus often taught the disciples using nature references, He taught me about me using my plant, Jack.
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