Remain in me.

There is a theme cropping up in my quiet times these days. One of vines and roots, flowers, fruit. But the focus in on the roots.

I have this little potted begonia sitting on my desk and over the weekend I noticed it had grown dramatically in one direction toward the window. Toward the sun with a gorgeous burst of orange blooms heavy on that one side. I instinctively rotated the little pot, to train it to grow straight. Later when I was listening, this image came to mind again. I've been impatient with God about wanting to know direction. And I realized that maybe this is the feeling when he's recently rotated my pot. I'm assuming it took my plant a few days to recognize the sunlight and begin its bending. It sensed the sunlight with something other than eyes. It was an energy that it takes in and leans toward.

It got me thinking about recognizing the Spirit in our lives like a plant recognizes sunlight. It may feel like we're going in all different directions at different times in our life, but the important point is that it is always toward the Son. God rotates our little pots and calls us out in a different part of ourselves, maybe, feeling like a change in direction, but the Son never moved. My little plant can't rotate itself, my own discretion has to decide when that needs to happen. I wonder if the plant worries about growing too far in one direction fearing burn out, or gets scared when the pot rotates and for a moment thinks "where's the sun?!" But this plant is so tuned in to it's desparate need of the sun that it will find it. Maybe even tuned in enough someday to feel the rotation and movement.

Remain in me.
John 15