Living Hope

This is a picture of the things in the window over my kitchen sink.  This scene is fascinating to me for three reasons:

1) Cole picked that flower for me over a month ago and it still going strong 

2) It has produced roots and appears to be thriving on plain water

3)  It is sitting right beside the word ‘Hope’ that one of my kindergarten D6 students gave me for Christmas last year.

I think there’s a lesson here somewhere.  And I think this is what it is:

That flower doesn’t know it is supposed to live in the dirt.  It appears to believe that plain water is just as tasty.  It is now producing a bud even though it’s environment seems to be less than ideal.  To suck up as much water as possible, the miracle plant has produced an inordinate amount of roots and these roots are what is keeping it alive.  No matter which way I turn it, super zinnia always is leaning toward ‘hope’.  I look at the healthy green leaves on this thing every day and I can’t understand why it keeps living.  The possibility of a flower surviving—and thriving--on my windowsill for 5 weeks is against all odds. 

I think God might be saying that if we put our hope in Him, even when we don’t understand him or comprehend what He is doing, He will not only help us survive, but He will help us thrive and grow when the world tells us give up and die.  When we put our hope in Jesus, and keep our eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we can sink our roots deep in His Truth. He is our living water.

I know that all sounds a tad cliché and churchy, and it is a little cliché and churchy, but that’s ok ‘cause I have a miracle flower and I can preach if I want to.  I think it’s super neat.  And I’m not sure how I’ll interpret the whole thing when it dies…but until then, I will enjoy the living hope in my window.

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

John 7:37-38