Life lessons from a Lettuce.

 

A few weeks ago I went to buy Lettuce plants from a lady who had grown them from seed. When I arrived she had these four healthy looking small Lettuce plants all ready for me to take. Now these could not be characterized as baby plants – they would probably have been in their tweens or teens. They had nice strong leaves which were this bright vivacious green and were absolutely beautiful. I asked for any Lettuce growing advice she may have and she very graciously gave me few tips and tricks.

A little over a month before buying these from her I had built a little raised bed and had filled it with a good mix of soil and compost and had been deciding what I would grow in this space. So on this day I very excitedly took the baby plants home and got busy planting them in their new little home. When it was all done it looked wonderful and I was looking forward to some great Lettuce.

By the end of that same day however, the leaves began to look a lot less healthy. Over the next few days the completely wilted away and my four gorgeous lettuce plants seemed to completely die on me. I was really disappointed but a mixture of hope and my own ego, for not wanting to admit a failure pushed me on to keep watering and checking on them. After about a week of this I saw small new leaves pushing through the wilted, sad dead foliage. A few days and these new leaves were getting bigger. A month in and we had wonderfully strong and mature lettuce plants that have been growing on and from strength to strength every day. They are a little happy corner for me in the garden – a space of success where I felt like my perseverance paid off.

The truth about this little life journey of the plant is a very simple one. It had been growing from seed in a particular pot somewhere else and had recently been uprooted and replanted in a new place. The leaves were healthy because the established roots were drawing the needed nourishment. In the new place the roots needed that time to grab on and establish themselves – to take root in the new raised bed. In the time the plant as a whole looked a bit unsettled and began to wilt. But there was a new thing that was happening. As the roots gripped and pulled nourishment new leaves were being pushed out through the ground.

We recently went through this life cycle as a family. In truth we are still in it. As a family we were that healthy plant with all the wonderfully vibrant coloured leaves of family, friends, community, ministry, purpose and joy. But then the Lord seemed to uproot us and move us to a faraway soil which was quite different from where we had been growing and thriving. And in many ways all those bright coloured leaves of our life seemed to wilt away to leave us feeling like a tired, wilting lettuce plant. But praise God that the Father is that expert gardener who has prepared the soil in advance and who doesn’t give up when we begin to wilt. He keeps working. All we need is to allow the roots to take hold into the goodness of the place He has prepared and planted us in. The new life, the coloured leaves will appear. Nearly a year after moving here we are seeing the baby leaves of fellowship, friendship and community begin to grow. We just need to trust the gardener. He is the expert. He knows what He is doing and how to do it. We just need to trust and take root.