Watching Us Grow

Back in October, the lady of the house that hosts us was given an orchid as a gift. It was covered with large, white blooms. But, after a few weeks, the blooms faded and dropped off. Having never had an orchid before, Solveig asked me what she should do with it. I trimmed back the dried stem to the base of the plant, put it in her sunny kitchen window, and we began to watch it.

In about two weeks, a little 'knob' began to form just beside where I had cut the previous stem. I mixed up some liquid fertilizer, saturated it, then drained the excess. Then, Solveig began an ongoing vigil each day to see how much it had grown.

At first, nothing much happened. Finally, the 'knob' began to grow, but it seemed slow. Then, after it got about an inch long, it just took off. I made sure I kept it on a regular feeding schedule.

Every day we would 'oooh' and 'aaaah' over it. After the initial 3 to 4 inches of growth, it began to grow about 1/2 inch every 24 hours. The bloom stalk is now just under 30 inches, and is beginning to branch off at the top to form the smaller stems that will hold the blooms. We should see blooms by mid-February.

This past Saturday, Olav and Solveig had a couple over for lunch. The elderly woman had had major heart surgery and a pacemaker put in in October, and is just now getting out and about.

When the phone took Solveig away, I found myself at the kitchen sink talking to this frail woman. I told how I had cut the plant back, then watched as it grew a new stem. I explained how it grew so rapidly, yet was a very strong stem.

I picked up the plant and show her the new stem that was just beginning to 'knob' out, and the two roots that had grown since the new stem began. In the back of my mind, while I was amazing her with the story of the orchid, I thought of God, and does He look down at us like that?

"As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes." Psalm 103:15

When we are planted in God's garden, John 15:2 tells us that He prunes away what will not bear fruit. The branches that are left, He prunes back even more to produce more fruit.

But, what has to happen before we can bear fruit? We have to bloom! When plants are in bloom are when they are the most beautiful, and the most desirable.

We all have to grow, beginning at the place where we were pruned back to, with a new stem, new growth, new buds to develop new blooms that will become the pod that holds the new seed within the fruit.

Solveig and I are eagerly awaiting blooms. I wonder if God looks down at us, seeing us grow from our pruned-back state, with as much fervor and excitement as the two of us has had over this orchid. Is He watching us day after day, anticipating the development of the bud, the bloom and, eventually, the fruit?

I wonder if we each examined ourselves, what stage of growth would be be in? Are we still being pruned, to get all the dead wood cut away? Have we just been grafted in? Have we began to grow? Or, are we in a place where we can see the fruits of our labors, and know that the seed has been passed on?

Update: March 20, 2013