the cactus story continues
About nine months ago we started a thread on the Ooze.com labeled "church planting," we had no idea where the journey would take us. There was a post about a Cactus, a wedding gift that Darla and I had been given nearly 14 years ago. The gift was a small cactus in a 5-gallon planter. The cactus saw 9 different homes in our first 10 years of marriage. Needless to say the cactus is a good metaphor for our marriage, sometimes prickly and other times it is the aloe of healing like no other natural remedy.
It wasn't until moving to Tallahassee that we finally planted it in our garden. This picture is the cactus after our surgery some nine months ago when we removed some branches that were too heavy, causing the plant to fall over and to start to uproot itself. It must have really needed pruning.
After removing the branches, we placed them in a wheelbarrow and put them in our garage. It took some very careful preparation and care to deal with these prickly branches. In our marriage, we have also carefully given each other space to grow and grapple with our own thorny inner demons.
Over the last few months the branches have started growing in the wheelbarrow. I am just blown away by how this cactus can grow inside my garage with no water, no soil, and very little sunlight.
Sometimes new growth comes in the most hostile environment. There must be something special inside that cactus that can cause it to withstand being out of its natural habitat. (I can't help but to think our spiritual journey from the "institution of church" into "becoming the church.")
As Darla shared in her post about our oldest daughter giving up "running to home plate," we are really beginning to see growth in our marriage and our children as we have been in this season of "intensive family care." Thank you to the One who wants to heal our souls, our families, and all our relationships. He has done good things for us!
Is this cactus gospel ready to go mobile? Can it be planted into the rich soil of those who want to receive the seed of Jesus and his incredible message of hope and restoration? This is my prayer.
We also planted a couple of sprouts in two more large 5-gallon planters and here is what they look like today.
Every day I walk by the wheelbarrow in the garage and the plants in our garden and I wonder when the time will come to go out and plant more? What are we waiting for? I think we are just scared we are going to mess it up or something... I pray for courage and humility. I pray for wisdom and guidance. Did I mention we also have 5 bags of 40 pound potting soil in our garage too?
3 comments:
we are so on the same page sometimes it's scary....
just like our cactus surgery, i believe that God has done surgery on our hearts and eyes, and we have been in ICU...
we are emerging and taking the bandages off... we are healing well... new growth is taking place. it feels good.
i think we ought to take the cactus out of the garage, into the sunlight, so it can be planted in good, rich soil. i think it wants to live... it wants to thrive. it's tired of being inside the garage in wheelbarrow. it's ready for a home. what do you think??
The rocks AND the cactus will and do cry out! Great analogy.
winns--i know that at times our relationship has been prickly, and like the cactus, we've all had to move out of our comfort zones a little, but look how we've grown
just like all those green sprouts in a red wheelbarrow, we've received new life from jesus outside the traditional communities we grew up in...and even outside of each other's regular fellowship
i don't know what the future holds...if god intends for us to all grow together in the microcosm of a flowerbed, in a mobile, makeshift garden like the wheelbarrow, or in a global online community...but i am just thankful to be growing, prickly parts and all
btw, i do think we all hold the healing balm, like aloe, on the inside, too...
i hope we learn to truly love each other, prickly parts and all as this saga continues
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