There’s a potted plant on the table, next to my chair where I spend my early mornings reading my Bible, thinking, praying, and wondering if there’s another way to arrange the furniture in this room. The plant sits in a cobalt-blue glazed pot with good drainage. It’s been fed, watered, cleaned, given sun, given shade and generally coddled. I’ve defended it through bug invasions and cat attacks. In spite of this, the plant has never thrived.
This morning, while staring into space, waiting for the screen in my brain to flicker on, my eyes came to rest on this plant. I noticed, as if for the first time, it’s sad condition: bedraggled leaves, branches leaning over the edge of the pot as if getting ready to heave after a night of bingeing. Just a pathetic sight. Into the silent morning, I muttered, “You STU-PID plant. I am throwing you out”.
That kinda woke me up. I started thinking about other things in my life that I nurse along, justify and feed, when in actuality, I need to let go, throw away, and clear a spot on the table. Like a bad movie watched to the lousy end (because there must be some redeeming quality), I hold on to a grudge, an indulgence, or “best-kept secret” thinking it enhances my life, when iin reality it’s taking up space, time and energy, and-maybe most significantly- God has said, “Give it up”.
So today, I start cleaning. The plant’s gonna go, to make room for the Tree of Life.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Phil. 3:7 (NLT)
