i have a succulent
that has been
falling to pieces
for a few months.
each day i find more
of the green leaves
have fallen from
the sturdy branch.
the leaves are still
full of life, but they
are disconnected
from their source,
their stability.
the dirt surrounding
the body is all dried up,
retreating from the vessel.
all that remains
of the succulent now
is a trunk with stems.
no leaves.
no life attached
to the body.
i had watched as
all of the leaves
had fallen from grace.
more and more of
the limbs disconnecting
from the main branch.
until there
was nothing left.
…
i have owned this succulent for
over five years now, but never
has it showed signs of depreciation.
for someone forgetful or negligent
of plants, succulents are very forgiving.
a succulent doesn’t need much water.
you can leave them for weeks,
even months at a time,
depending on the variety,
and they don’t show
any signs of lifelessness.
they are able to sustain
and live with little, as they
steward that tiny intake
of water every now and then,
and continue to live on.
but. when you overwater a succulent,
it starts to reject that abundance of life.
the succulent goes through
a shedding that is only
born of over-saturation.
because when the roots
and limbs and leaves
have too much water,
and the dirt is too soggy,
then it all starts to crumble.
why? because succulents
are plants of the desert.
the desert was designed
to forebear the lack of water.
so when met with an abundance,
it cannot handle the supply.
if we consult our friend Google
then we learn that these are plants
that have adapted to conserve water.
the leaves and stems
store water, and many
thrive by storing water
to reduce water loss.
what this reveals to us:
is too much water is
undesirable for the
succulent to thrive.
by now you’re probably wondering
why i’ve spent so long writing about
my dying (not thriving) succulent.
i promise there are some themes,
some running threads we will
unpack together from my succulent.
for now, there is one last concept
we need to explore: propagation.
…
i’ve attempted to propagate
my dying succulent.
originally i thought the main root
would do the shedding
of some larger branches,
and then continue on thriving
under the conditions of neglect
and minimum hydration.
but i continually came to the plant,
and her many multiplied forms,
only to find continued decline,
no sign of growth or repair,
no bouncing back or restoration
to her previous state of being.
i collected all her fallen leaves
and limbs into a new pot of love,
with dirt and minimal water,
in the hope the new environment
would enable life to flourish.
while no roots have taken,
her leaves remain vibrant,
and independently thrive,
albeit, disconnected from
any branch, root, or dirt burrow.
of course, these leaves store
their own supply of water,
hence their ability to live on
independently of the source.
while these leaves were orphans,
still surviving, they were not thriving
or able to send roots down for stability.
they were literally in survival mode,
(water conservation mode for plants).
…
now, despite all my attempts at
saving this fragmented succulent,
one day, the main plant sent her
remaining arms to the ground.
while my propagation success had
been non-existent, i repeated the
process of collecting the leaves
into a new pot of love, and once
again re-planted her, hoping this
time she would send down roots.
throughout this whole process
i hadn’t thought to dwell on the
symbolism of propagating and
tending to this broken succulent.
it was a natural nurture instinct
inside of me to want the plant alive,
seeking new ways to extend its life.
but what brought the significance
of this process to mind was when
i went for a walk around the local
neighbourhood and bush one day.
battling the thirty degree heat, i made
my way on footpaths and yellows lawns,
hoping to avoid any interactions with
the local snakes or larger kangaroos.
it was when i was on other side of the
neighbourhood that something
on the ground caught my attention.
there, on a driveway, was my succulent!
this succulent had limbs and leaves
in the exact same shape and form of
the broken V-shaped branch of mine.
for a second i hesitated, confused.
how had my succulent branch made it here?
was this not the exact same succulent branch
that i had just re-planted in a new pot back home?
i kept walking, perplexed, and reflected on the image.
i couldn’t help reflecting on how similar
these two stems of leaves and life were:
one at home, one the ground before me.
was God catching my attention, inviting me to
stop, to slow down, to ask him after the
meaning of this symbolism in my own life?
was this symbolism a coincidence? or does God give us
patterns, repetitions in nature, to remind us of himself?
these were the very same
variety of succulent.
both had the same signs
of potential for life.
both had growth, in the
form of slight offshoots
of tiny roots and threads,
barely the size of string,
shooting from the base
where the succulent limb
broke from the source.
both had two arms,
adopting the posture
of an outreaching,
as though in an attempt
to reach towards new life.
what was God revealing to me?
as i continued my walk
i realised that the mirror
image succulent branches
were a sign of what life
without connection to a
main Source may look like.
life without a main Source can
have potential, it can boast some
conditions for growth and expansion,
but without being firmly rooted or
planted in conditions to thrive and
be nurtured, there is a risk of death.
…
it made me wonder: what conditions
are we, as humans, made to thrive in?
on earth, we all have one main Source;
we are God’s creation, his handiwork.
God has breathed life and love into our
limbs, and given natural orders and rhythms
to his other creations (creatures, nature).
God has also placed in us even
greater properties than a succulent.
He has given us that same hunger
to grow, and the same ability
to be resilient in times of drought.
as the master Source and Creator of Life, He
longs to see his creation thrive and choose life.
He invites us to take those slow, deep sips
of his living water, that we may be sustained
and strengthened in seasons of turmoil.
He invites us to abide in Him, that we may remain
in His love, and bear the fruit of that love to others.
He has created us to live on this earth, a desert place,
where we are estranged from him, and where we
face the same threats to survival as a succulent.
we learn to adapt and survive,
strengthened and empowered.
but, if we seek strength or power
outside the Source, we start to
stray towards counterfeit sources.
counterfeit sources of life only offer
short-lived conditions of thriving,
an illusion of stability and strength.
if we are not planted in a safe place,
where we can put down roots,
then we will not grow and flourish.
if we are not connected to a
stronger branch or root,
that allows us to go deeper
and hold on to water for longer,
then we will not thrive, but die.
…
God designed us to operate optimally
when we come to Him, our source.
we are made for His safety,
His strength, His steadfast love,
and the stronghold of His name.
He wants us to live under His laws and ways,
where we can find safety and sustenance.
His law is life. His operating conditions
and ways are all designed to promote life.
His sustenance and provision
is with the intention for us
to flourish and thrive under him.
nothing He says or does leads to death;
He is the sustainer and giver of life.
if we look elsewhere for life, of we abandon
the safety of His providence, then we are like
the fallen leaves and branches of my succulent,
unable to take root or continue flourishing,
without connection to our main Source of life.
but even when we fail to remain in Him,
He gives us the opportunity to be planted
in Him again, inviting us to rest in His soil,
His word, where He will tend to us, so we
are strengthened and empowered to grow.
…
God is an endless gardener,
always tending to His creation,
always planting new seeds, in
the hope of raising up new life.
that natural nurture instinct that
led me to constantly re-plant and
propagate my broken succulent?
that very instinct is from our Source,
our Creator. and how greater must
His instinct for nurturing us be?!
He is always preparing a place, a
pot of love for those He has made.
but only those who seek after Him
as their main Source enjoy the
bounty of being in His presence.
…
as i write these words i am reminded
of Jesus’ words in the gospel of Luke:
“the harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few. therefore pray
earnestly to the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest” — luke 10:2
there is an abundance available to us.
when we live under the laws and ways
of the main Source, we are invited to
be fruitful and multiply. to be a laboror
for the Lord — a labor of love, in love.
we have been appointed by God to
steward life, and to tend to His creation.
until Jesus returns, and we are called home
to our heavenly garden, we are called to be
gardeners here on earth. toiling the soil of
our own heart, and sharing the hope that
we have, the Source of our life and sustenance,
with others who are lost and seeking that
same life, strength, stability and sustenance.
while my succulent falling to pieces
has reminded me of the deterioration that
comes from a disconnection from God;
there was another spiritual truth being
revealed in the succulent’s fragmentation.
as i reflected on the real-time
fragmentation of whole,
disembodiment of the body,
i could not help but un-see
the parallels to the body of Christ.
how the church, representing the body,
has many parts, many members.
and in the last decade,
there seems to have been
more open discussions around
departures, deconstructions.
the “church hurt”
phenomenon
is one of them.
but have these departed members
of the body of Christ “fallen”
like the leaves on my succulent?
one or two leaves
falling from a branch
doesn’t mean that the
entire succulent dies.
but when all the leaves fall
and the trunk is unable
to produce more leaves,
then the whole plant dies.
so if a few followers of Jesus
stop communing with other followers
but remain communing with God,
are they still not connected to the source?
what if those followers find another branch?
what if they are removed from one branch
of the body, and re-planted in new soil,
finding a healthier environment for growth?
maybe if the followers were to disconnect
from community and disconnect from God
then that may represent a fallen follower.
f a l l e n,
but not
too far gone
to be saved.
b r o k e n,
but not
too far gone
to be redeemed.
what if the branch is not healthy,
and is holding onto too much water,
leading the leaves to fall away?
what if the branch falls away
from the main trunk?
there is so much symbolism here,
that it truly is a reminder that we
can never assume that someone
choosing to leave a church for a season
is a sign that they have fallen away.
God may be toiling the soil of their heart,
in order that they may be re-planted,
connected to a new branch that provides
greater strength and sustenance.
…
the fragmentation of my succulent certainly
bore many parallels to my Christian faith.
the brokenness and fragility
of our human hearts leads
us to a state of dependence
on a Love that is strong enough
to hold us together, when we
otherwise would fall apart.
…
but, enough about me. this word is also for
you. my final revelation to share is in relation
to the over-saturation of the succulent.
the succulent, made for the desert,
was not prepared for an abundance.
as humans, while we may not be made for
the desolation of a desert place, we are
sojourners in this world, separated from God.
we find ourselves in the wilderness,
praying in the midst of droughts,
seasons of “dryness” in our lives.
we have been accustomed to the desert,
and our thirst for living water is masked
by our coping strategies, akin to the
“water conservation mode” of the succulent.
when we become too acquainted to
this world, too familiar with the state
of deprivation from God, this is when
the abundance that God offers us
seems to be too good to be true.
the abundance forces us to confront
all the things that we hold onto,
all those coping strategies we use
to conserve a counterfeit life.
all the things that we hold onto
in the world, other than our Creator,
are counterfeit forms of life
that really lead us to death.
in the same way that my succulent
started to crumble when finally
offered life in the form of water,
one living a counterfeit life will find
the shedding of old, the crumbling
of strongholds, when they come
into contact with true Living Water.
…
any fragmentation, any brokenness,
in our own lives are a reminder to
re-evaluate our connection to God.
any who have fallen out of community,
out of church, out of friendships, are
those who may need propagation.
we can trust that God,
our master Source,
our eternal Gardener,
is nurturing and tending
to His beloved creation.
He is always seeking ways
to connect to those who
have forgotten or
disconnected from Him.
for all the fallen need
is to be re-connected
to the source of Life.
…
as i close, the imagery of my broken succulent
also reminds me of Ephesians 3:17,
where we encounter Paul’s words that:
“… Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith —
that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all
the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, and to know the love
of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that
you may be filled with the fullness of God.”
here we witness the imagery
of being rooted and grounded;
the same needs of the succulent,
which are to have a sturdy main trunk
on which branches could stem.
without Jesus, we have no foundation.
we need Him for the depth, the grounding.
the love of Christ is what allows us to
find strength and stability in this life.
and that water-conservation strategy
of the succulent? we have no need for
that when we find ourselves in Jesus’ love.
Paul reminds us that we may be filled
with the fullness of God, an abundance
that we are not called to conserve,
but are commissioned to share.
my succulent died because it was so
accustomed to holding onto water,
that too much water led it to die.
maybe we too, as humans, may experience
loss and death if we try to hold onto life
and abundance only for our own nourishment.
we are not called to live for ourselves.
we are called to be stewards of life, and
commissioned to love from an abundance.
our abundance is what Paul is reminding us
that we have access too – it is the fullness of God.
we are called, unlike the succulent,
not to hold onto what we are supplied.
we are called to share the life and love
we have been given access to, and we
share this with others when we pour
truth, hope and love out onto others.
but we can only steward this life and love
when we are rooted and grounded in His love.
without that, we are the fallen leaves and branches,
depleted, deprived, not able to thrive without
access to the sturdy foundation of our Source.
it is His Love that strengthens and empowers us,
so that even in this this earth where we experience
droughts in our spiritual walk and physical needs,
we are not reliant on our own self or supply.
we steward what He gives us, not what is of ourselves.
…
“now to him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all we ask or think, according to the power
at work within us, to him be the glory in the church
[the body, the branches] and in Christ Jesus [the trunk]
throughout all generations, forever and ever. amen”
– Ephesians 3:20-21
