To understand where I am today, I begin by telling you where I came from. My story always seems to carry a certain amount of discontent; why am I here and not there, what if I had been there, instead of here? Perhaps, this is the human condition or a restlessness that is a peculiar way of life for me. Contentment is easier to come by since retirement but, I think I will always be looking for one more adventure, one more reason to laugh, and one more, just one more dance.
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6 NIV
I gave the heuchera the same treatment as its fancy cousins in the narrow bed that borders the deck in my back yard but the little lime green beauty didn’t respond. It looked underdeveloped, wimpy and sad. But, before I dug it up and gave it last rites in the compost bin, I decided to give it one last, one last chance. I transplanted it a mere four feet over, next to the aggregate planter that held my pride and joy, Japanese maple.
Next to the planter it was cooler, shadier, and protected. Essentially, I put the ailing heuchera in the plant hospital and waited. It still received the same care as its more robust cousins but, surprisingly, as the weeks passed through the summer its leaves crisped up, like lovely summer lettuce. It filled out into a dense mound and began to thrive. There was no explanation, nothing concrete to point to, but the heuchera became the show-off of the flowerbed.
I’ll call her she, because she began to express her true, authentic personality, glowing with good health and vitality. In her new space she found her comfort zone, the place she had always belonged, but I, her gardener and tender of her life, hadn’t realized it.
I have so many times felt like that heuchera, that I was in the wrong spot in the garden. In my case, the transplant was not to the ideal spot for sun, water, and shelter, but a rocky place, where the wind blew too hard and the sun burned. My transplants were uncomfortable, not always fulfilling to my spirit.
Some transplants were out of my control and some were my own poor judgment, because I turned a deaf ear to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.
Some transplants caused me to grow stronger in order to keep my roots and maintain my balance. Like a scrubby pine growing in the cleft of a rock, I bore down, leaned into the wind, and toughened my bark.
And, some transplants just left me longing for softer soil, warmer winds, and thirsting for a cool drink of water. A sandy beach would be nice. I knew where I wanted to be but, like the little heuchera, was unable to transplant myself.
I look to the Master Gardener to change my circumstances but instead, His sovereign plan, mysterious and wondrous, nurtures me where I am as I strive to express my true, authentic personality, to glow with spiritual health and vitality. I yearn for my comfort zone but wonder if I was created to find such a place this side of heaven.
Belonging 