Resilience has been on my mind a lot lately. For many reasons but I have this constant reminder every time I open the front door of our home…
This poor petunia has been through a war this spring/summer/fall. And she looks like it too.She was a gift as we left our church. I was so excited to hang her on the door by our front door. And then a wind storm came ad knocked her down.
I heard this large crash. I went outside and found her laying on the ground. I sat her on the table after checking for damage. Nothing was wrong with her. A few days later I hung her back up. Only to wake up one morning to find her laying on the ground again (apparently we had some wind during the night. This time her pot had cracked so she took up permanent residence on the table.
Summer came
And so did the rain. It has been the wettest summer on record for a LOOOONG time. I would wake up in the middle of the night to pounding rain and wonder if the plant was ok. I would walk outside the next morning and the flowers would be drooping from all the water. But by late afternoon the scorching sun would dry things up. I did’t have to water this plant at all except for one week By mid-summer her leaves were dry and crispy. Her soil was still damp and she had loads of blooms so I kept taking care of her.
Then in September I noticed she no longer had any blooms or buds. Everyday I kept saying one more day. Finally the day I had planned to dump her our in the woods came and I went outside only to discover 3 baby flower buds pooping from its sparsley leaved plant.
And since that day every time I walk outside I see this spindly looking pathetic plant with gorgeous magenta petunia flowers smiling back at me
November
I took this picture on November 1st. Since that day she has been hit with frost twice and as of this morning she has 9—NINE flowers/buds. Yes she looks silly. Yes she looks like she has been through a war. The scars are evident but you can tell she is resilient- She is a very strong and determined plant. I know that at some point she will die. She is not a plant that lives all year long but I am still going to enjoy every moment I see her because she represents so much to me.
Two more plants
I have two more plants that have proven to be resilient. An aloe plant that was given to our oldest son by his Science teacher two years ago. I struggled with that plant. For whatever reason the way it grew the Aloe plants roots just didn’t want to stay buried. NA d it was all the time flopping over and it would fall out of it pot. The silly thing almost dies a number of times.
Then one day I had a brilliant idea….I replanted the silly thing for like the third or fourth time and I rotated the pot and moved it to the other side of the window sill to it could lean up against the window frame. By doing this it trained the aloe to grow in a different direction.
I can now move the plant and it is stable. it doesn’t;’t flop over and fall out of its pot.
The Christmas Cactus.
This plant I have only seen at other people’s houses or in pictures on social media. I took the plant to my craft room after it was gifted to me last December as a gift when I was in and out of the hospital. Given the last 11 months I haven’t spent very much time in my craft room at all and well I just plain forgot to water her sometimes.
Actually for weeks at a time- I mean it’s a cactus RIGHT? Honestly I just haven’t had time to be in my craft room so I forgot about her and from time to time I would remember her. She would look a little witty and pathetic but she would spring back to life.
One one such occasion I walked in to find a very witty cactus BUT she has new growth in her Leaves (what are they are they leaves?). Anyway she had new ones. I watered her put her back on my windowsill and left again-to be forgotten for 2 months.
Then something magical happened
I remembered lat week my poor Christmas cactus. I was almost sure she was going to be dead. It was the longest I had forgotten about her. I went in AND SHE WAS LOADED with buds….no joke and she wasn’t witty at all. Matter of fact her soil was still damp- Im not sure how that happened but it did.
I have since moved her downstairs to the kitchen where I am checking on her everyday watching the buds get bigger and bigger
I marvel at these plants
Each of these plants have different circumstances and struggles. They each have a different background and they each have fought their own battles to survive. They all are resilient. They are strong and have bounced back from their battles
Tthat made me think of my own resilience and the resilience of those around me
We all have our own junk. Personal battles and struggles that have worn us down.
Some of us resemble the Petunia with all sorts of battle scars all over us. But the cool thing is our resilience is seen not in the beautiful lush greenery but in the magenta flowers that just keep coming. Despite being battered by wind and pouring rain and having our pot cracked from two traumatic falls we still have joy- we keep hoping when it’s hopeless (Grace Got You MercMe).
Some of resemble the Aloe Plant- we keep leaning into the things that make us more comfortable. And just when we think we are good we tumble out of the pot, roots exposed and heart broken.
And some of us are like the Christmas cactus. We have been neglected and ignored and forgotten. And despite all of those things we remember where our hope is. It’s not in our friends, family, kids or spouse. All of this people will let us down BUT when we stay focused on Jesus (Our Creator) we never lose hope.
Our resilience is a Choice.
I have heard people say that resilience is something you are born with. I disagree. We have t learn to be Strong and Courageous. Hmmmm sounds like a verse right? It is. It’s Joshua 1:9. As believers we put it on our walls and on jewelry in hopes that it will magically jump off the wall and make us do those two things.
But we ignore the first part of the verse “I command you…to be strong ad Courageous”. It isn’t about praying and asking for strength and Courage and waking up one morning and BAM you have all the courage and strength you need.
You need to exercise and stretch those muscles of strength and courage. Joshua need to stretch his courage and strength. He didn’t just wake up one day and was full of courage and strength. he had to endure hard things. Going into lands full of giants and armies bigger than his,
He didn’t wallow in the same fear that kept the others from giving an accurate depiction of what the promised land was like. It took great courage to go against the other spies in the group.
Taking a lesson from Joshua
Joshua didn’t have things easy. He faced all sorts of battles and was even left wandering in the wilderness for 40 years despite his being courageous. But he and Caleb were rewarded for their strength and courageous.
But Joshua wasn’t the only resilient one mentioned in the Bible- There is Peter Paul, Ruth, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Jesus,, Hannah, Adam and Eve. Daniel and I could go on and on. Each one of these people were willing to say Even if…I still will. They Chose Courage and Strength- they chose resilience.
How?
By choosing to keep their eyes on God and following his ways. See sometimes we put our trust in people or things, churches or other ministries and we lose sight of what our purpose is and who we belong to. We find it easier to wallow in our pain and fears, instead of taking them to Jesus.
It’s an active choice to rely In God. When we let the lies of satan in creep in and we start to convince ourselves we can’t trust God it’s inactive choice as well.
We need to be very aware as to what choices we are making- whether it is in our hearts or minds, in speech or in action.
Thanks for Joining me today.
Check out the rest of my Choosing Courage posts here
