Yet another of life's profundities...

It was ugly, and I simply had to do something about it. There it sat on my kitchen window sill, completely out of control and out of nature's plan for its intended beauty.

This little coleus plant started out pretty enough, and should have been a bright addition to my backyard view from my kitchen. I had placed it in an old, funky frog planter of my mom's - one with no drain holes and very little space for soil - but cute. My little plant buddy grew and grew...but something began to go horribly wrong. It eventually was growing up by leaps and bounds. It began going its own way, ignoring all the rules of plant-dom. So now here it was, this long, spindly, leafless growth with withered leaves at the very top. Sigh...

I took it down off the window sill to make room for another plant, and it was then that I made the decision to do the dastardly deed. It was a horrible thought, but somebody had to do it. With great determination, and with what appeared to be no compassion at all, I did it. I pinched it off, right down almost to the top of the soil. It was at that point that I noticed them.

There they were...spreading out from the point of the amputation...a little cluster of green, healthy leaves...new growth. In that moment, my spirit was rocked with the truth I had just witnessed. Doesn't this take me back to the "vine" analogy I had been considering a few posts ago? Of course...yes...as we release ourselves to Christ's care, as we are growing in the "vine," there are times when Christ can see things that are blocking our progress. At those times, what could appear to be a severe "lopping off" occurs, ridding us of the ugly nuisance. But wait...what is that we see...is that new growth?