The mist rose from the ground as I looked out the kitchen window. The recent rains had turned the atmosphere into a hot steamy mess. My eyes were focused on the outside and then slowly began to perceive the plants in the window.
When our son moved out of his place in Bishop Arts, he did not have room for these terra cotta vessels so we adopted them, that is to say, Cindy adopted them. They are succulents and they remind us of him. What I noticed is that the plant on the left was relocating to the pot in the middle. In the same way, the middle plant was stretching out toward the right. It was as if each of the plants wanted to be somewhere else. When I see them I am almost always transported across the country and wishing I could be with our son and the shape of the plants was mimicking my feelings.
Dissatisfaction is the engine of exploration and discovery. There is no reason for a better mouse trap if regular mousetrap is good enough. I recently stumbled onto a video of an inventor explaining the multiple stages of development for what it calls the “Dizzy Dunker” or “The World's Greatest Mouse Trap.” It touts its design as a humane catch-and-release system that is safe, reusable, and non-toxic. It might be a better mousetrap.
While we intended for the plants to stay in their own pots, I applaud their wanderlust. Sometimes we get spiritually stuck because we don’t think things can be different. The pot we are in, the place we are in, and "the way things are" overwhelm us and we give up. Instead of searching for a deeper place, we just hunker down and shrivel up. Jesus was dealing with lots of stuck people. They had defined God out of their lives and substituted a system of rules. They no longer had a relationship, but a “to-do” list.
Jesus came to help people become dissatisfied with the status quo. “You have heard it said . . .but I say” was one of the phrases he used in his famous sermon on the Mount. He pointed out the blindness of the religious and how they were unable to see the possibilities of faith and love. Spiritual growth begins with desire. The Bible uses multiple phrases to describe this spiritual truth, “crave,” “long for,” “desire,” “set our hearts.” The plants in my window are right. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7–8).
Maybe my plants can remind you today, that if you are feeling spiritually stuck, you don’t have to stay that way. If you have been in a deeper relationship with Jesus, then it's time to move back to that place. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:2–3).