Room to Grow - Thorny Hedges
Day 1: The righteous will thrive like a green leaf
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature (Luke 8:14).
"Hello, old friends!" I mentally greeted the rows of pots in my garden—mint, thyme, chives, parsley, lavender... My joy and amazement never cease each year as I watch them burst forth with alacrity from their long winter's nap, uncurling and stretching towards the late spring sun.
I set to work cleaning up the pots. A few had become chipped or cracked, and debris, dead leaves and a few early weeds had taken up lodging in others. But it was something altogether different that posed a more serious challenge to the health of the plants—I discovered that a few of them had become rootbound.
Gardening glossaries explain rootbound as a condition that results when a plant is growing in a container that is too small. Since the roots do not have enough room to grow and expand, they become snarled into a twisted, restricted mass, resulting in the stunted growth of the plant.
As I launched "Operation Rootbound Rescue," I couldn't help thinking about all the ways that we humans, like plants, can become rootbound, restricted, snarled—stunted in growth. I think of the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:1-15), where Jesus lists some of the thorns that can hedge us in with choking suffocation—life's worries, riches, and pleasures (Luke 8:14).
But the God of abundance, who promised His people that they would spread out to the right and to the left (Isaiah 54:3), is the same God who offers us transplant into the "new soil" of freedom, growth and thriving—promising production a hundred times more than was sown (Luke 8:8).
My plants are thriving now in their new pots. I am more mindful of choosing the right containers. And I am more mindful than ever of my own need to be "contained" within the true vine that sustains me.
I am thankful for my perennial plants. And I am thankful for the Master Gardener who alone can keep my life free from rootbound restriction, stunted growth, and spiritual stagnation—the One who promises: If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).
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