All I used to want in my world was black. white. gray.
I was hesitant towards color.
But last winter my soul got a paint job.
Things were lonely, dull, and dark to say the least.
I didn't know why back then, but I now know.
I was craving real life.
I remember sitting in my living room alone one morning, looking to a corner of it and thinking, "I want that corner to be a little jungle."
So I bought one small palm tree.
It was refreshing. beautiful. comforting to care for, and exciting to watch grow.
But I started craving more. More green. More life.
Slowly but steadily I began ushering in the greens, and if you step into my home today, you won't see a jungle corner. You will be confronted by a welcoming committee of roughly 20 plants spread throughout my living room. There are a few more sprinkled into the dining and kitchen areas, then a second jungle once you reach my bedroom upstairs. In totality, I think I have almost 40 plants throughout the house.
To me, these plants are portable life.
Plants are the physical "Bios" kind of life, one of the Greek words for 'Life' used in the bible. To me, this Bios life points back to Creator, which points straight to His "ZOE" life - which is the uncreated, eternal life of God!
God created us that we may not just have ordinary life, but embrace His ZOE life! God BREATHED His ZOE life into Adam at creation, and although that buddy messed things up a bit, JESUS stepped in so we are able to embrace that true life again!
1 Peter 1:23 says "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of IMPERISHABLE, through the LIVING and enduring word of God."
By us embracing HIS life, He becomes our REAL LIFE - and we can express Him through our living!
He has colored my world with the most brilliant greens.
He has colored my world with LIFE.
Once you let Him in ... once you let LIFE in,
You might start with one baby palm tree in the corner of you living room.
But then you will soon see 15, 20, 30 plants and counting.
You will have a corner of life
Then a room of life
Then that life spills into your other rooms
And soon enough
You will be hand-delivering that life to others outside your home!
In the past two weeks, I've given away two of my plants to friends because my heart wanted to give them a dose of life. A dose of freshness, and physical reminder to the spiritual LIFE God has in abundance for us to embrace. And just this weekend, I bought a gang of seven plants for my best friend's new apartment, because I SO VERY MUCH want it to be a place of LIFE for her. It was wonderful, even as we were buying the plants and I explained to the cashier they were for Kaylie she exclaimed, "Well! What a perfect gift! The gift of LIFE!"
I'm not talking about plants anymore, I'm talking about TRUE LIFE from God.
We are not called to keep this LIFE to ourselves!
Live YOUR life to show HIS life, because there is vivid color God longs to bring to others through you.
Carry life. Carry it so obviously that people will ask where you got it.
And you can point to the ultimate Gardener.
He is the gardener of my soul!
Wow.
He wants to be the gardener of YOUR soul.
He wants to plant in you His life, and watch you TRULY flourish.
Our God does not leave us to be lost in a forest.
Seed by seed, our desire for real life with Him creates a beautiful jungle IN us - that we might not be lost in it, but found, familiar, and HOME there with Him.
