Are Your Plants Stuck in Their Pots?
Have you ever eagerly purchased some flowers at a local nursery on a Friday afternoon, brought them home, taken a short break to tend to other matters, and then neglected to plant the flowers the same day? No big deal, right? You’ve got all day Saturday to transplant those beautiful blossoms.
Saturday rolls around, and you get involved in a few other projects while neglecting to move that flora out of their pots and into the ground. Once again, there’s no need to lose any sleep. You’ll make sure to complete this task after church, lunch, and a short nap on Sunday.
You know the rest of this story, don’t you? You enjoy a quiet, restful Lord’s day until you suddenly realize the sun has gone down and you haven’t given those plants a thought. As you navigate through a busy week, you notice each time you walk out the front door to run an errand that the flowers are getting drier with each passing day. So you spray some water on them in a rush, hoping and praying they will survive until the next weekend.
When you finally do get around to working in the yard again, those plants have dried up and shriveled with no real chance of survival. So you buy some replacements and make a point of transplanting them the same day. And when you do, you notice something as you remove this batch of plants from their pots: The roots are wound around the outside of the dirt, as though they were busting a gut just waiting for the day they will venture out into deeper soil.
That plastic pot was a barrier that the root just couldn’t push through. It was in the way, preventing new growth. The plant needed to be set free so that it could take in nutrients, mature, and flourish.
What’s the moral of this story?
We need to have a healthy root system, one that is firmly planted in Christ. If you feel like you’re running up against a plastic barrier or are thirsty for some refreshing water, then you just might need to climb out of your flower pot and into some open dirt. But make sure it is good soil. And know that God the Father, your heavenly gardener, will ensure you get all the rain, fertilizer, sunshine, weeding, pruning, and care necessary for you to produce a bountiful harvest of peace and righteousness. Look to the sun, grow in the direction of the light, and enjoy being in His garden to blossom and mature for His glory.
Heavenly Father, thank you for taking me out of my small plastic pot and transplanting me in just the right place, at just the right time, to accomplish good works that you prepared in advance for me to do. I want to grow, mature, bloom, and flourish where you plant me. Let my roots run deep into your good soil to bring forth an abundant harvest.
Walking by faith and enjoying the homeschooling adventure of a lifetime!
Davis Carman
© 2017 Davis Carman
DavisCarman.com
Apologia.com
If you enjoyed this devotional by Davis Carman, enjoy reading his devotional entitled The Lord’s Prayer.
Davis is the president of Apologia Educational Ministries, the #1 publisher of Creation-based science and Bible curriculum. He is also the author of four illustrated children’s books designed to help kids learn a biblical worldview. He believes that if there was ever a time to homeschool, it is now! Davis’s four books include: Good Morning, God, based on Deuteronomy 6, A Light for My Path, an ABC book based on Psalm 119, In the Beginning, based on the Creation account in Genesis, and Psalms to Know Early.