What God has been teaching me through plants

You can ask any person I’ve talked to in the last two weeks, and they’ll tell you that I cannot shut up about plants. During quarantine, I discovered the wonder of watching something grow, and now I have sixteen houseplants and a butternut squash plant. Well, seven of them, so if anyone wants one, please let me know. I’m hoping to get some cucumbers and spinach this weekend, and start an container garden. Sure, I had a garden when I was in high school that produced way too many tomatoes, considering that only my mom likes tomatoes. But all I remember from then was that it was just too much work. Taking care of plants is a lot of work, especially if you want to keep them alive. So I didn’t really get into it back then, not the way I have now. I’ve learned a lot in the past couple of weeks, mostly by trial and error but I did do some research. Some plants need more water than others, and some need more light. Or less, as I figured out the hard way for some. Some grow really fast, some grow so slowly. Some eat bugs, which I think is so cool. They’re all so different, and yet all of them need something.

About a week or so ago, I repotted one of the plants I bought when I first moved into an apartment a couple of years ago. This plant made it through four moves and did not even flinch, which if you know anything about plants, you know that some react very badly to even being moved across the room, let alone to four different living spaces. It wasn’t even leaning a little bit, even though the stems looked very thin. I had not repotted it since that first day with it, and I figured it was probably ready for some fresh soil. And, oh man, what I pulled out of that pot was incredible.

This plant’s roots were so long that they wrapped a couple of times around the bottom of the pot. The dirt was so packed in between them that I could barely massage it out. It was starting to be root bound, meaning it had outgrown its container. If I had had a bigger pot, I would have moved it to that one. In a bigger space, it would have continued to grow and expand, finding what it needed. My plant was very strongly rooted.

Plant roots are very sensitive. They can rot really easily if you overwater your plants. They break off in your hand if you’re not too careful when repotting. They need to be buried deep in soil. But it has to be the right kind of soil. The plant I repotted needs nutrient-dense soil. But my Venus Fly Trap needs a lot less nutrients (because it eats bugs!) so putting it in the same soil as the others can kill it. When plants are rooted deeply in the right kind of soil and are properly taken care of, they can produce the prettiest blooms. Or yummy fruits and veggies.

I think people are a lot like plants. We need food and water and sunlight to survive (did you know you need sunlight?). We also need strong roots.

Luckily, people are less finicky than plants and so we all need the same type of soil to root ourselves in. I won’t leave you in suspense, though I’m sure many of you know what I’m about to say. We need to root ourselves in Christ. This means reading Scripture and praying and being part of a faith community and trusting in God’s timing, etc.—basically allowing God to be involved in and permeating every part of our lives.

The risk of not rooting ourselves in Christ, in His Word, is scorching. In the parable of the sower, Jesus talks about seeds being planted in different types of soil, and the seeds that fell on the rocky places without much soil sprang up quickly. But Mark 4:6 says that:

But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Mark 4:6 NIV

Jesus explains this to mean that:

But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

Mark 4:17 NIV

If we don’t root ourselves in the Truth and Good News of Christ, we are at risk for falling away. Shallow roots will not be enough here; we must be buried deep in the nutrient-dense soil of Scripture. Shallow roots or no roots will not be enough support and it won’t be a steady foundation.

While we root ourselves in Christ, we must also recognize that Christ Himself IS the root.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots, a Branch will bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1 NIV

Jesse was King David’s dad and Jesus was born from the line of Jesse. And Jesus is God in the flesh who came down to earth to reconcile us to God. And now, we are the church, tasked with spreading this Good news. So: From the roots of Jesse, a Branch bears fruit. That Branch is Jesus. And through Him, us.

You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Romans 11:18 NIV

Let Christ, through the Word, support you. And just as my plant was root bound, too big for its pot, we need to remove the constraints we’ve put on ourselves, and let the roots grow. There is always, always more to learn. We cannot contain Jesus to our standards, for he is much bigger.

Jesus even says it more directly in Revelation 22:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

Revelation 22:16 NIV

Jesus is both the root and the fruit. We are simply the vessel through which Jesus works in the world. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says that “so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” But if we do not plant ourselves in the right soil, in Him, allowing Him to support and nourish us, we will wither away and we will no longer produce the fruit of His Kingdom.

When roots are growing on a plant, a lot of—if not all of—the energy that that plant is producing goes toward the roots. We as Christians need to be so rooted in Christ that we are constantly pouring energy into it. It takes some work. It takes changing our habits to look different than the world. But just as we put in work to grow rooted, Christ nourishes us with His Word.

Some people think they can survive in different soil, but it just isn’t true. The soil of the world—fleshly desires and sin—sometimes looks good. But it isn’t nutrient-dense, it doesn’t have what we need. Sometimes if you put plants in the wrong soil or care for it incorrectly, it can adapt. But it never thrives. For example, bamboo survives in low light, but it can tolerate medium light for a while. But it won’t grow. Maybe you can survive a short while in different soil, in the soil of the world, maybe even for your whole life. But the hope we have in Jesus is everlasting life, so long as we root ourselves in Him. We will thrive and become what we were designed for if we’re rooted in the right soil, allowing God to nourish us.

This post was given as a talk at Christian Student Fellowship on Tuesday, August 11th for our first Tuesday Night Worship of the Fall 2020 semester.