January 8, 2020 The Extravagant Blossom

I made a tremendous discovery this morning! A Christmas cactus that was given to me over a year ago has finally bloomed:

So what? I don’t usually do well in the tending of plants. My daughter had left her Christmas cactus in my care when she left for college and between forgetting about it and then overwatering it, I pretty much destroyed it. With the helpful advice of a Gardening Master friend of mine, I was able to revitalize the roots of that sad, desiccated thing in a jar of water and then handed it off to the aforementioned daughter with a sigh of relief. When I received another one, it seemed a cruel irony, albeit a much-appreciated gift. I mended my wicked ways and sought to give it better care than its predecessor. After more than a year went by without any blossoms, I assumed the worst and wrote it off as just one more plant tending failure on my part. Yet, somewhere in the secret and hidden parts of that cactus, a flower was just waiting to delight and surprise me.

Is it possible that our prayers are sometimes answered in the same way? We look at what we can see (which is very little), and can be tempted to despair that God is not listening, nor is He acting on our behalf. And it’s unavoidably true that some of our petitions will not be granted, for God knows what we need better than we do. As C.S. Lewis said, “In our ignorance we ask what is not good for us or for others, or not even intrinsically possible.”

But sometimes God is at work in the secret and hidden places, waiting for just the right time to reveal what He has wrought for us. The next time I am discouraged about what seems like unanswered prayer, I’ll remember the extravagance of that blossom.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,  to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.