The Abundant Life
It was a beautiful and quite unusual red and yellow tulip which blossomed anew each spring in my front yard. I not only admired its beauty but also appreciated its determination. Growing in a small, shady space it had to push its way up through a heavy, thick layer of mulch, where it was sandwiched in between two large shrubs. Seeing it struggle each year to bloom, I thought of how someone planted it long before the shrubs and mulch were added, forgetting that it was there. Each year I intended to dig it up and plant it in a more favorable place, but I, too, kept forgetting about it.
Finally, one year I remembered. So, with spade in hand, I proceeded to dig up this lone tulip bulb and plant it elsewhere. Well, to my great surprise I did not find one bulb, but two dozen.
CONSIDER, all the while I was digging up one bulb after another from their resting place deep within the ground, I thought of how so many of us find ourselves in a similar position. That is, situations in life make it difficult for the good and beautiful things within us to blossom. Beneath our outer cover that the world sees, we have deep within us the potential of to bring those things to life. Unfortunately, as with those tulip bulbs we keep producing them within and never see them come to full bloom.
Yet the good news is that God is the good gardener. And if we will allow Him, He will bring us to that favorable place so that together we can bring to full bloom all that is within us.
Jesus said, “…I came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 10/12/13
