My Momma has a green thumb...or more like 10 green fingers, hands and arms. The woman can grow some beautiful flowers and plants, she just has a gift for making beauty grow out of little roots, castaway plants or tiny buds from Lowe's. It is really amazing to me.
And I have noticed that once in a while there is a plant that nothing seems to work on, and all her usual tricks of the trade just doesn't help the plant. It just doesn't grow the way she hoped it would.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 3:7 "So neither is he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth". In the Message translation, it say that God is at the "center of the process" of making things grow.
As humans, we can put forth all of the effort we want, use our God given skills and gifts, and have intellect, knowledge and expertise, but if God's hand or favor is not in the growth of it...maybe that is one reason why it is not growing.
I know that statement could open up discussion and differences of opinion.....sometimes I really don't understand why God does what He does, or better yet, why we do what we do.
But this verse is also a comfort to me too. That the sole responsibility of something growing to its fullest potential is not entirely on my shoulders. I plant, and I water...but then God will come down to my situation and at the center of my process, grow it as He wants it to be grown. Sometimes it dies, or maybe it grows strong roots....it could flower for one season or every Spring, regardless, He will grow it in His own way for His Glory.
And there is always a story too, when my Momma and I walk around her garden. She has a story about each plant, and its process of growth, or why it didn't grow and what worked and what didn't. And she uses each experience to make her a better gardener. And every plant she has, she pours everything into it she knows to do...because thats what you do when you plant a seed.
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