Are You Stuck In A Mason Jar?

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom......" beginning of...Isaiah 35

My friend Thelma gave me this plant one day. Every time I went to her house... I would see it sitting there in the little jar of water. It's roots were all intertwined into a mass of what looked like a bowl of Ramen noodles. I was excited the day she gave it to me. She said that she had it in that jar for years and never put it in a pot with potting soil. She kept it watered... never letting the roots to dry out and shrivel up.

The jar looked as if it had years worth of 'crusties' attached to its insides. You know what I am talking about... the stains of water and root juice that accumulates after time. Now I am not saying that Thelma didn't love this little plant... She DID love it! It was still alive... it was green and supple... it's leaves were healthy and it's stems were strong. But... it's roots were just swirling around and around the bottom of that mason jar. They were growing and reaching out... only they didn't have alot of room to mature. It sat there in that jar... waiting... waiting for something...

I took that jar of a plant with Ramen roots home. We had went to Walmart and bought a nice pot for it... put some potting soil that Thelma had given us and some that we had bought also. My husband, Rich, carefully placed the Ramen root ball and the sturdy little plant down in the soil... he gently spread out the roots so they would not all be tangled and choked up inside the soil. He made sure they had plenty of room to move around and grow. He then took some water and saturated the soil in the pot.

Within a week... the plant had grown at least a foot! In about a month... it had beautiful salmon pink flowers with light yellow centers on it! It started to get so heavy and huge... we were afraid that the stems would break off... so Rich put some wooden stakes in the soil and tied the branches up for some extra support. As I sit here now... months later... the plant on it's highest part is about 2 feet from my ceiling as it sits on the kitchen table. It's leaves are huge!... and it keeps blooming these beautiful little flowers. Each time it blooms... (which is like... always)... the cluster of blooms gets bigger and more vibrant! The main stem at the bottom is almost an inch in diameter. I can only imagine what that ball of Ramen roots looks like now... probably all stretched out to the farthest edges of the pot... exploring new and exciting untouched areas of the fertile potting soil.

In what I am supposed to do with my life... I feel kind of like I have been stuck in a mason jar. I feel like I keep getting watered... and I am sitting on the counter... waiting... for something. I am healthy enough to be alive... I am strong... and my roots keep growing and my beliefs get stronger each day that I sit here waiting... for something... something...

I can see through the 'crusties' that have accumulated in my life... and the living water of Jesus Christ has purified the 'crusties' so that my spirit is not choked out. I needed to be transplanted into good soil... I need my roots and beliefs to reach out... I want to blossom and grow and be vibrant... I desire to do God's will... I want my inner beauty to be an inspiration to others... I want others to know that they too can be transplanted into 'good soil'... they can be alive and vibrant and blossom into what God has planned for their lives.

I will be exploring the good soil... reaching and leaning towards the light of the world... I will breathe the oxygen of God's love...

Luke 8:11-15 "...The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."