Thirsty?

Just as I had begun to pray tonight, I caught something moving in the corner of my eye. It was startling to me because it was the wilted plant that I had earlier watered. I have always wondered if you could "see" a plant get refreshed, much like watching the hands of a clock--mysteriously they pass time without your notice, although you are aware of their constancy. I had the same thought about my little plant. It is cramped in a too-small pot that I have been "meaning" to get around to re-potting, and it has been gracious with my neglect. It seems to mirror my days when I come home: perky, but with a few damaged leaves; wilted and sagging; alive and bright green (not that I'm bright green...); somewhere in between...

Tonight it was completely wilted. How does it get there that fast? This morning it seemed fresh and didn't seem to need my attention. Why do some days seem to suck the life right out of it while other times it seems that it lives for weeks on a drop of water? Maybe at this point you are wondering why I am rambling about a houseplant...or why I keep using the word "seems"...

It is a spiritual parallel to me tonight--as most mundane things seem to be to me. What I realized as I watched the leaves "jump" around, drinking in the life-giving water, is how quick the plant responded to my care. It didn't sag around for hours after I watered it...no, it started returning to its natural state as if I had never missed a beat. How true this is to my relationship with the Lord. Or, rather, how I want it to be. Some days seem to take the life right out of me and I want to come to Him for the life-giving water...but I don't want to wallow in the misery of my situations. I want to immediately respond to this quenching. And, I realized tonight that the longer the plant goes without its soul food, the longer it takes to perk back up. And, really, after that amount of time, it never fully returns to "normal".

That, in a nutshell, is the point of why I am rambling about my houseplant...