Mmmm... Wood chips!

Planted

Last week someone gave us our first flowers of the spring… they are orange and purple impatiens which are some of my very favorite flowers for our house, because they’re hearty and they flourish even though our front beds are in the shade almost all day long. The only problem was that we didn’t get to plant them right away because we had our hands full with babies and groceries. At the end of that day they wound up in the foyer. The next day we were just moving too fast and furious to plant the impatiens and they made their way back out onto the porch, but not in down in the dirt. The day after that was somehow busier than the previous two! Before we knew it, a week passed and those beautiful flowers were sagging… they had spent the week moving around all over the place instead of being planted. They were sitting on the flower beds, but they still weren’t in the dirt.

But never fear! Christy planted ‘em on Monday and they perked right up! As soon as they got into the moist soil and sank their hungry roots down deep in the rich nutrients, those wilting buds popped open and started struttin’ their stuff! It was awesome to see our flowers come back to life… and all because they were planted in just the right place. Psalm 92:12-15 says, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.”

If your stems, leaves and buds are drooping and your petals are withering, could it be that you’re not planted in the right place? If you want to flourish and stay fresh and green, you just need to be planted in the house of the Lord… in the courts of our God. The Psalmist says that the fresh trees are the ones who are praising… the ones whose roots dig deep in the Lord and whose branches are lifted high in praise.

Sometimes we get so busy that we get to moving around all over the place and don’t stop long enough to dig into His word, drinking up the nutrients our spirits need. Sometimes we get so rushed and hurried that we don’t make any time for thanks and praise… our hands are too full to open them up and raise them to the heavens. And what happens? We start to wilt and sag… but never fear! You can perk right up in the right soil! Just plant yourself in the word and give your heart to praise… it’s what you were made for and it’s how you were made to flourish and bear fruit.