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Plants, Please
Do you really like plants and just wish plants would like you back?
Any plant: cactus or succulent, outdoor plants, or even one of those hard-to-kill houseplants? Just one that will actually follow the “easy to take care of” instructions on the back of the plant tag?
Well I’m one of those people. No matter how impossible to kill the plant may be, I’ve failed to keep them alive.
Now I’m trying once again to care for plants, but this time around with houseplants. You know, those “tolerates all forms of neglect” pothos plants.
And I’ve realized how quickly they get stretched out when the light is too far away or not bright enough.
When plants have to stretch toward a light source, their vines get leggy, the leaves get smaller and fewer, and the overall look of the plant suffers as it stretches out and contorts in all directions to get into the light.
Stretched Out and Worn Out
This makes me think: how stretched, bent, and out of shape are our lives when we’re not living with adequate lighting?
God’s Word is light for our path and a lamp that shows us how to live (Psalm 119:105). His Son, Jesus, is the light for all mankind. When we’re not spending time with God daily and being guided by His light, we quickly become stretched thin and bent out of shape with stress and worries.
Jesus is the light of our lives, and anyone who follows Him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12).
If we stay in the light of Jesus, we don’t have to worry about the trials of this life and the ever-expanding darkness of this world, because Jesus’ light outshines the darkness (John 1:4).
We can have peace in resting in Him because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
Self-Made Light
Are you striving, working hard in your own strength to get in the light of God’s presence and acceptance?
Are you reaching toward the flicker of light found in that Sunday morning church service, that occasional prayer for the “big stuff”, or that daily Bible reading on your to-do list of religious checkoffs in order to get the bare-minimum light you need to stay alive?
If so, this isn’t thriving, it’s surviving on enough to get by.
Unless we are continually abiding in and living under the warmth and guidance of Christ’s light, we’re going to get bent out of shape trying to stay in the light ourselves.
To keep our lives in balance and growing properly, we have to stay directly focused under the life-giving source of God’s love and the light of His Truth.
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers.
John 15:5-6
Withered Leaves and Shriveled Vines
Without proper lighting, a plant’s leaves get smaller and start to wither.
Just as it says in John 15:5-6, if we are not remaining and abiding in Jesus, our True Light, then the fruit we bear as Christians will wither and eventually not be produced at all.
The Lord’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life, searching the innermost parts.
Proverbs 20:27
Sunburned Leaves
Sometimes, we’re reaching for the light because we’re only willing to let a controlled portion of our lives be revealed under God’s lamp.
Many of us have areas of our lives that we’d rather keep hidden in the dark, never to be revealed by sunlight. We’re afraid of the heat from God’s revealing light, that it might scorch the tender parts of our hearts we hide.
When we keep parts of our lives in the dark, but try to have the rest in the light, our overall life will be out of shape.
We have to be willing to be fully in the light, fully abiding in Christ, every leaf and vine included.
The vines of our life that we choose to keep in the dark will only suffer and wither without the life-giving freedom True Light brings.
Proverbs 10:17 tells us that the one who rejects correction goes astray. In the same way, if we reject bringing to God our hidden sins and the dark corners of ourselves we’ve tried to keep out of His sight, we’re only opening ourselves up to go astray.
When we’re under the light of Christ, we can’t be afraid of what it might uncover (Proverbs 20:27)(link to devo).
Lush, Green Foliage
It says in Proverbs 11:28, “The righteous will flourish like foliage.”
When we’re living completely abiding in Christ, in His love and righteousness, we’re fully centered under and covered by light. Then we can grow upright and mature as we should, not stretched and worn out.
Our lives will flourish when we stay connected to the Vine and are willing to be cared for, corrected, and pruned by the Gardener of our souls (John 15:1).
Jesus is Our Trellis
Not only do plants need adequate light to grow properly, but many, like vining plants, need some sort of support, like a trellis or moss pole, to grow on so that the plant can continue to grow upright and take on the shape it was meant to have.
In Jess Connolly’s book Dance, Stand, Run, she uses the phrase, “You should cling to Jesus”.
We need to both stay in the light of the Word and cling to Jesus in order for our lives to continue “upright”.
When we don’t cling to Jesus, the vines of our lives go every direction. Our attention and focus is divided across various sources to find fulfillment and satisfaction, instead of being focused upward toward the call of God.
You Don’t Have to Strive for Light
It’s important to remember that we don’t have to strive to be in the light, using our own strength to be righteous and figure life out.
When we are living and working by our strength, it will show stress on both our bodies and our lives.
Instead, we can rest under the light and care God offers.
It’s the Holy Spirit at work in us that brings His plans to fruition (Galatians 5; 2 Thessalonians 1:11).
Make Sure the Lights are On and Turned Up
Perhaps you’ve realized you’re living under dim lighting, living a lukewarm Christian lifestyle and you need to turn up the light to full.
We are lights on a hill, and while dim light is still visible, we are called to be ambassadors for Christ and should have our lights turned up to the brightest they’ll go (Matthew 5:14-15).
Psalm 42:1 states , “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
Likewise, as a plant requires sunlight, so our souls require the light of God.
Let’s cling to Jesus today and ask Him for His help to stay centered in the light of His love and guidance.
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