I have a plant that hangs outside my front door. I bought it in the spring about 18 months ago. It is an interesting hanging succulent that I’d never seen before and I was very intrigued by it.
I keep it by the front door because there I can see it the most often and visitors can view it as well.
One should understand from the outset that I do not have a green thumb. I love plants, but I am sadly not a great caretaker.
When I purchased this plant from a large nursery, it was thick and bright green and full of new growth.
Over the previous winter, I moved it to the garage and it faired okay. It didn’t die, but it became thin and dull.
This past spring, I moved it back to the front porch, but it never really regained its luster for life.
Now that I am about to move it to the garage to endure the coming winter, I thought I should do a little research.
It turns out that this plant needs full light. Oh snap! That would explain why it struggled for the past nine months.
Under my north porch, there is no direct sunlight. It has had enough light to survive, but not enough light to thrive.
There are times that this describes my spiritual life. I have enough light to support life because I have trusted Jesus and have Holy Spirit living in me.
But if I’m not getting direct “Sonlight” daily, then spiritually I will become sparse and dull.
There are occasionally areas of new growth on my plant and seeing them gives me hope that it is still healthy.
Sometimes in my spiritual life I will experience growth in a particular area, perhaps through new revelation or a message heard.
But instead of leaning in to that growth and letting it wholly impact me, I will feed it for a few days and then forget about it. If I truly want a greater impact, I may have to do something different.
I may need to look at the soil of my life, the foundation, the very building block of everything that it must support. I may need to add plant food or fertilizer, in the form of the written Word, prayer, study, or writings/messages from others.
Ultimately, in this case, I need to move my plant. For it to flourish, it must have direct Light. I must move out of a place of complacency and convenience and into a place of actively seeking and receiving the Light.
It is convenient to have my plant on my front porch. It is easy to water it there and requires less effort and attention than if it were on the back porch. It is easily seen there by myself and others. Even though it is visually available, it is not as visually appealing as it would be in another place where the observer would have to go to the effort to seek it out.
It is the same with us. We put things out for the world to see that may be satisfactory, but it is the deeper part of us that should multiply and bloom with life. If all that exists within us is what is readily seen by the casual spectator, we will live shallow and ineffective lives.
God has called us to increase, to blossom, to multiply. We need Light! We need to go beyond the convenient and dig in to what God has for us and His plan for us to push His Kingdom forward.
How am I created to influence the world for His glory? I must put in the effort to grow and become full and lush with His very Spirit in me. I must put myself in a position to be exposed to His Light.
Let’s let Him shine on us and let’s grow with an expectation of leading full and rich lives impacting others for Him.
“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
John 1:4-5 NASB 1995
“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.”
Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT
