A Sign of Hope

When I moved into my new parsonage three years ago, my district superintendent delivered a plant as a house warming gift. The pot was a combination of three different plants. I never do well with mixtures of plants in the same pot. The plants don't all get the same care, and one or more of them always die off. This particular pot had it pretty rough, because for some reason I didnt take care of it very well at all. In a few months, I just gave up altogether on the plants, and just kept them in the window because I didnt want to throw them away, because they were a gift and I liked the pot they were in. The whole plant, except one lonely stem had wasted away. That one stem, looked like it was about the sprout, but for a two years it just never did. I continued to water it, with the intention to throw it away as soon as it went brown. It never went brown, but it never sprouted either. Last month, not only did the sprout finally grow into a leaf, it is a wonderful plant now. With a number of leaves, and a number of new sprouts. And is is a variety of plant that I have never had any luck with growing.

That plant reminds me of my life - how we all bloom in God's time. And if God does not give up on us, and if there are still signs of life, then we will come to life and start to grow again, no matter how bad and dismal things may come. A sprout is always a sign of new life to come!