I love having plants around me. But taking care of plants can be precarious.
We had a ficus tree in a pot inside the house for nearly twenty years. Went for a ten-day trip and noticed when we got back all the leaves started falling off. Within a few weeks it was completely bare and done.
Most years I try to have a garden during the summer. I get all excited and put plants in the ground in May; they look beautiful and rich and full, go on vaca for a week or two in July, come back to find them parched and burned.
These things are meant to point us to greater truths about our lives, how sometimes we pride ourselves on transient things.
“But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.” (Jam 1:10-11 NIV)
When we get humbled by passing riches of this life, can you give thanks that Jesus is removing everything that separates you from an eternity with Him?