My clerodendrum is blooming!!
I’ve had it two full years, and not once has it ever bloomed.
And now … right after I just about lost it completely … it’s blooming! How is that possible?!?
The clerodendrum cutting was a gift to my daughter from a patient at the physical therapy clinic where she used to work. Therefore, it is a special plant, because it is a memory of this very kind person in her life.
But the clerodendrum had a difficult season this past summer.
By mid-September, all its leaves had fallen off and it was nothing but a pitiful mess of bare tangled vine. It looked hopeless.
I thought about cutting the vine back completely. But something in me knew there was still life in the plant. I worried that if I cut the vine back completely, then it might not be able to re-grow.
So I re-potted the clerodendrum … burying all the vine down in the dirt. All of it! The entire tangled mess. Then I set the sad-looking clerodendrum in an upstairs window to see what would happen.
Lo and behold … there was still life in the vine! The vine began to sprout little green leaves!
And now … just two months later … the plant is covered with beautiful white blooms! I’m in absolute awe!
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate and give thanks for all the blessings and joys God has given us! But not once, at Thanksgiving, have I ever considered giving thanks for the brokenness that I’ve been through during the past year.
The brokenness hurts! The pain hurts!
I want the pain to go away! I don’t want to remember or think about the brokenness!
And yet, when we least expect it, those memories pop back into our mind. Memories of the brokenness. Painful memories which we thought we had buried and “gotten rid of.”
The memories drift through our mind (uninvited! … and unwanted!). And the sadness washes back over us.
Google informs me that my clerodendrum is a “Bleeding Heart” variety. How appropriate.
From out of the painful seasons of brokenness in our life … when our heart is “bleeding” … God can bring beauty. Even out of that. Just like these “Bleeding Heart” clerodendrum blooms.
To be honest, when we go through difficult painful seasons, the only thing we see is ick! No blooms. Just ick!!
And afterwards, when those uninvited memories pop back into our head … there’s still no beauty. Just ick! Ick!!
This November, I am choosing to be thankful for the brokenness and the ick! of this past year. Even though I can’t see any “blooms.”
Even though the only thing I can see is ick! … I am choosing to be thankful. Even for that.
Because somewhere … somewhere in all of that ick!, God is doing something. I trust, by faith, that God is bringing beauty (even though I can’t see it).
My Hoopes rose also had a very difficult season this past year. And God has also brought beauty from its brokenness too.
I thank you God for Your power to bring blooms out of brokenness.
This Thanksgiving, I choose to trust, by faith, that You are doing the same thing in my life. And in the life of those who are reading this blog post.
