Posted on August 6, 2010 by newhope2010

Some time ago I purchased a maidenhair fern in a neat little pot.  It looked handsome in the nursery amongst the other plants.

I took it home and put it in my bathroom to brighten up the soft tones of the tiles and to bring a little life to the room.  But alas over the next few weeks it lost its vibrant colour and leaves began to droop.  I trimmed back the fronds that were looking saddest and added a little Thrive to the water to try to build it up again, but to no avail.  It seemed the more I tried the worse things became.

Over the next few weeks it steadily faded away.  I kept trimming the fronds and the plant grew smaller and smaller.  Whatever could I do?

Then one morning I picked it up and took it downstairs to the kitchen and in the morning sunlight I quickly snipped off every remaining frond until it looked more like some alien creature with a spiky hairdo.  Not a leaf left, not a frond, just dark stumpy stems protruding from the finely chopped mulch I had made of what I had removed.

I adjusted the verticals so that each morning it would get just a few hours of soft sunshine – and left it there on the kitchen bench.

For days nothing changed until one morning I found a tiny new leaf still curled up amongst the brown debri and the blackened stumps of what had been.  Like new growth after a bushfire, it looked so beautiful… “new hope” on this new day.

And then it seemed each evening when I returned home from work, there was another new leaf, another new frond.  Life was returning!

A few days ago, I stood in my kitchen, watching the lacy leaves of my maidenhair fern in the winter sunshine, and it occurred to me, that this is so like our lives.  Yes, sometimes our lives begin to die.  We lose our purpose or our sense of direction.  Whatever we try seems to fail.  Nothing seems to bring results.

And then, perhaps, it is best to take the scissors and trim everything away, put our trust completely in the Lord, and pray for a new beginning.  And just like my little plant, before long we see the Lord working in us and bringing life back where nothing seemed to be before.

© Bevan Collingwood 2010