A Working Plant

Drew and I celebrated out 10 year wedding anniversary a little over a month ago. As part of the decorations, we had beautiful flower arrangements (one of the perks of having an awesome florist as a member of your congregation!). Within these arrangements were orchids, mums, lots of flowers that my un-gardeny self couldn't hope to name, and willow branches. After the party, we brought home all of the arrangements and scattered them throughout the house to enjoy. Over the next week, the flowers slowly began to wilt, and so we would pull out what Claire calls the 'broken' flowers, and rearrange the others. After two weeks, we were left with only the willow branches. I planned to throw them out as well, but Claire noticed that one of the branches had put out roots, and demanded that we "save the sticks, because they are still working!" Over the last month, all of the branches have put out extensive roots, and shot out bright green leaves. It's amazing to me that something that just looked like a dead stick could bring forth new life.
2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 speaks of the new life that comes from the Holy Spirit. I suspect that many of us have experienced times in our lives where we felt like a dried up old stick - useless, unattractive, of no value. The restorative power of Jesus Christ has no end, and with the healing power of the Holy Spirit, new life can spring from the most wasted life that we offer to Christ. We just have to keep filling up those vases, and trusting in God!