The Sacrifice

Do you have a green thumb? While I love flowering plants, the only blossoming plants I seem to have success with are begonias and geraniums. I work hard to keep them alive, so you might find it unsettling to hear I am intentionally letting one of my plants die.

It was a tough decision, but I am no longer watering it, and it pains me to see the leaves turning brown because they need nutrition.

But it has to be, so others might live.

For three consecutive days, every time I’d water one particular begonia plant that sat on a lofty shelf in my backyard, a small bird would fly out. I began to suspect this was not coincidental, so I grabbed my stepstool for further investigation. There it was; a nest, but I didn’t see any eggs.

I continued to gently water the plant until one day I heard the chirps of baby birds after I doused it. I realized I must have missed the eggs! I was horrified that I could have potentially hurt the babies with the monsoon coming out of my watering can.

Fortunately, I still heard their sweet voices again, and decided to exchange the life of a begonia for the life of a few baby birds.

Isn’t that the way it works in God’s world? God, the Master Gardener, allows dreams to die, ideas to wilt and people to be cut off, in order to birth life in another place, another person or another venture. While we don’t understand why he lets things die, we have to trust he wants the best for us, and ultimately, he will raise up new life in us or in our callings, and will be glorified through the transformation.

At a women’s conference I attended this weekend, Evangelist Shavon Sellers called the thorns in our flesh and pitfalls of life “necessary evils” in order to bring God glory.

What necessary evils have you endured so you might have a rejuvenated life that glorifies God?

After all, God is sympathetic about the deaths we face throughout the years. He understands what it means to give up something precious, as he handed over his precious son to the cross. Can you imagine what it was like for him to intentionally let his son die so we might live?

I wonder if it was the sounds of our voices that prompted him to do it?

Now, as he listens to the sounds we utter, does he hear words of praise for his sacrifice?

Or are we like a like a lifeless plant without blooms? LBW