Consider the Flowers…an Orchid

I was given a beautiful orchid plant about three years ago with a fabulous flower which lasted a while but unfortunately the flower died!

I generally have quite a green thumb when it comes to house plants, so I was quite optimistically confident that this orchid would flower again. I watered it (from the bottom, not too much), fed it, moved its position, talked to it, I did everything!  Still nothing, I was about to give up on it. Then the other day I looked at it to see a flower beginning to form and I was so excited!

It reminded me of the Bible verse Philippians 1:6 ‘being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’

God has begun a beautiful work in each of our lives and he will complete it.  Like the orchid, we need to feed ourselves on his Word daily, communicate with him, position ourselves with people around us who will speak into our lives and build us up.  The feeding and watering and kind words to my orchid don’t just go in and do nothing.  Plants and flowers are clever things and are always in process.  The outworking of all the attention I have given my orchid will be the beautiful flowers it will produce.

For God to continue his work in us day by day making us more like him we need more of him and he needs more of us. There comes a point where all the input has to find a way out.  For the orchid it is in the display of beautiful flowers, for disciples of Jesus it is to be an outlet for all he is becoming within.  To always be in the process of growth, pruning and fruitfulness, remembering that even when things seem a little dull and unproductive, God’s still working in us that which will contribute to him completing us!

By Alison Moody