I bought a shamrock plant several years ago. I have a rather
brown thumb so wasn’t too surprised when a few months later the individual
stems and leaves began to turn brown and shrivel up. Despite my brown thumb, I
really hate to throw plants away—just in case they might have a little life in
them. So I continued to water my dead-looking plant and left it in the sun by
my kitchen sink—just in case there was a little life left.
A few weeks later I glanced at my shamrock and was surprised
to see a single green stem poking through all the dead leaves and stems. Within
a few more days the pot was full of green stems and leaves again!
This pattern repeated itself several times over the last few
years—the plant would go from green and full to brown and empty. The last time
everything turned brown was over a month ago. When I cleaned the kitchen last
week I thought about throwing the plant out—surely it wouldn’t come back after
months of looking so brown. Yet I decided to give it one more chance and wait a
week or two to throw it out.
Then, several days ago, it happened again—there was a tiny
leaf of green sticking through the brown. Now, a few days later, the pot is
almost full of those distinctive green leaves yet again.
As I was looking back at my prayer journal for this year, I
realized that more than a few of my prayers were answered as I asked for them
to be answered. But from the dates in the journal, I saw that I often prayed
for weeks or even months—and even when my prayers were not being answered, I
continued to pray and read my Bible and go to church.
And just like the shamrock plant, coming to life long after
I thought it was dead, my prayers were answered as well.
As I thought about the shamrock plant, I realized that my
life is sometimes like it. Even when my life—or issues in my life—seem brown,
dead, and hopeless, I continue to pray to the Lord and wait for him to answer
my prayers. I try to keep the faith—by reading my Bible, going to church, and partaking
of Holy Communion to strengthen my faith.
I know God is always working, sometimes in the light of day,
other times beneath the surface where I can’t see Him…but I continue to pray
and have faith, knowing that an answer WILL shoot up.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, and do
not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
Dear Lord, I thank you
so much that I know that I can always count on You—You will always answer my
prayers. Please give me patience and faith, even when it seems there is no
hope. Amen.
Due to lack of
time (it’s prom night and I’m on my way
to take
pictures!) I’m posting the same entry in both blogs:
My other entry
was going to be titled “Sunday, a Day of Rest’, and give
pointers I’ve
used to make Sunday my day of rest.
That post will
appear one day next week.
Have a great
weekend! God’s blessings!
