I’m not a gardener.
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Some of my friends have observed even plastic plants fall apart under my care.
My father, however, was a gardener, and he won many awards for the gardens he established when working for a municipal council.
His green thumbs didn’t transfer to me, and I am much poorer for it.
There is always hope though, and this year I received a big surprise when I noticed new flowers on some shrubs I planted during the winter.
They were ‘rescue plants’ that I picked up from the bargain bin at a local garden centre and so my expectations were in line with my previous experiences.
After digging up the previous dead plants and laying down some weed mat, it was time to plant the last-chance shrubs and hope for a different result to myriad previous attempts.
I even gave them liquid fertiliser.
You can imagine my surprise when, almost on cue, on the first day of spring, flowers appeared on all four shrubs.
How could this be?
It made me think of the miracle of life, be it human, animal or plant.
How does a seed become a plant that bears fruit or flowers?
How does an embryo develop into a fully grown human?
I know the scientific answer, but it still amazes me.
And yet, all life is fragile.
Today’s beautiful flower withers and falls when winter comes around and it is just a memory we may have captured in a picture or two.
Sadly, the same happens to us and to our loved ones.
The biblical Prophet Isaiah once wrote: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures for ever.”
Isaiah was reminding people there is more to life than what we see in the here and now.
The circle of life is something we cannot escape despite our best efforts.
We may eat right, exercise regularly, and yet our bodies will ultimately fail us.
The question we need to ask is, ‘For what purpose was humanity created?’
Isaiah went on to answer that question later in his book.
God’s message through him was “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”
In the context of Isaiah’s whole message, that’s not a reference to this life, but to the next.
When our time on Earth is done, those whose faith and trust is in the Lord, will renew their strength.
They will be reborn into a new life, with a new body, just as Jesus was.
This body will not suffer from arthritis, cancer or other diseases. It will be perfect, and it will be eternal.
There are times when I feel like the rescue plants I dropped into the ground last winter.
Can I push out any more flowers, or am I too tired?
My strength for each day comes from looking forward to what God has planned not only for me, but for humanity.
The end of the Bible has a wonderful vision of what God’s special place looks like.
In Revelation chapter 21, it says: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth’, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away … 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”
New flowers every spring remind me God is making everything new in this world as reminder of His plans for the next.
Where is your hope for tomorrow?
— Reverend Phil Zamagias, Christ Church Anglican, Echuca