Too Much of a Good Thing...

I come from a long line of women with “green thumbs”.  When I was a child our window sill was laden with avocado seeds or potatoes soaking in jars of water growing roots to be planted later.  I was also taught that certain plants, like alyssum, can be pulled up and clipped and will take root again, making it a rather prolific fellow, I learned water is essential.  Yet, even with this plethora of knowledge and fantastic gene pool, I must regrettably confess I can’t keep a plant alive to save my life.  Recently I was given a nice patio plant and was told it was the kind you COULD. NOT. KILL.  I was tempted to say, "Challenge accepted!" but instead I decided to make this plant a personal success story. 

Every morning I set out to water the plant.  I clipped the dead leaves.  I even talked to it a bit (they say that helps.)  Sadly, within a few weeks the plant began to turn color and the leaves fell, so I watered it more thinking that would perk it up, but the opposite happened.  The more I watered it, the worse the plant seemed.  Then came the sad, but familiar, moment when I take the pot and the scraggly stems, say a few kinds words, and place it in it's final resting place - the compost bin.

I mentioned to someone how I killed the unkillable plant.  In an effort to sooth my discomfort around such inadequacy I declared, “I don’t understand how I killed it!  I talked to it – whispered ‘sweet nothings’ into its ear (what plant doesn't love that?!), I watered it daily and did everything I was supposed to do!” 

My friend gave this advice:  “With a plant like that you only need to water it once, maybe twice a week; and water slowly to let it soak into the soil”   What?!  Are you kidding me?!  I drowned my plant???  Who knew that was even possible!  Apparently with me as it's owner, my poor plant needed floaties!  OH wait,  most plants aren't supposed to float either...I know, my knowledge is impressive, it's something my grandmother taught me...just sayin'...

Getting back on track here...That’s when it hit me that as people we can be similar. We have a desire to grow spiritually so we read scripture and study it.  We "water" our soul with God's word.  When we encounter difficulty or something inside us seems "off", we often turn up the water by collecting more knowledge via reading more scripture...we "chapter and verse" until something hits us...until something makes us feel O.K.  Sometimes we can accumulate knowledge like a reservoir but our circumstances are like bricks around our ankles the two not only don't match up...they work against each other and we begin to 'drown'.  So we put on our emotional floaties by keeping conversations and thoughts just above the surface to avoid "going under" and never coming up. 

Maybe what we really need is not more knowledge.  Why put more water in the pool when we're barely staying afloat?  Maybe we need to let the knowledge we already have soak in and be cultivated into our life and our circumstances.   Have a conflict with a friend and don’t know what to do about it?  Scripture is pretty clear…love ‘em.  Extend unexpected kindness, pray for them.  Confess your offence if needed.  Let God’s compassionate heart for them grow in you.  The same might apply to a grumpy neighbor.  We don’t need more scripture to tell us what to do…we already know it.  It just requires more risk, more intention, and it's more inconvenient than "chapter and versing" it on our couch.  Consumed with worry?  Scripture is pretty clear on that too…cast all your cares onto Him…trust that He cares for you. Wait, maybe that’s the hard part…maybe in the “casting” we discover we don’t really trust God to care.  Why else would we worry? 

In any case, sometimes more knowledge is not the prescription.  Chapter and versing it,  consuming knowledge without cultivating it, causes what we learn to become a collection of ideas,  they are things we might profess.  But professing, "God is good!  God is good!" and reading more verses about it, doesn't always work....does it?

Just like most plants, humans were never meant to float along the emotional surface randomly professing one thing but experiencing another.  I guess that's why Scripture says, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."  Knowledge is good.  Just like water, it is the most basic nutrient needed for growth.  But too much of it can drown the soul.  (Don’t shoot me here…hang on.  I promise I am not a heretic.) Good knowledge can be tested.  Sometimes more space and time is needed to let what we have professed become what we believe.   We put knowledge to the test by wrestling it through the soil and letting our spiritual “roots” collide with the living presence of Christ inside our circumstances.   And that happens when we pause from our frantic search and simply choose to be present , honest and active with God.  He becomes visible and His living-water truth soaks the soil and nourishes us in unhurried rhythms.  

So the next time someone gives me a plant I am going to check how often it actually needs water.  And as I encounter life disruptions I am going to consider if the situation calls for  more scripture or more cultivation?  And “water” both accordingly.