More and Better Life

Read Psalm 80

Light two candles and say together
Come, Great Gardener. Let your face shine upon us so that we may be saved.

Reflection

Some people are plant people and some people are not. Plant people are said to have green thumbs, implying that everything they touch grows, flourishes, and comes to life. And then there are those of us with the opposite problem... putting a plant in our care is an assured death sentence.

Despite everything I want to be true about myself, I am one of these death-thumb people. However, over the past year or two, I've decided to try and be a plant person. It started with a little plant on my kitchen windowsill that despite my best efforts, has not died yet. I do not think it is a very healthy plant, but it is still there, and I still water it every 19 days (it is a baby rubber plant, for the record). Exactly a year ago I got a sweet little pot with bees painted on it, so I went out and picked up the easiest thing I could think of to fit in the pot: a succulent (fleur blank) and I set it right beside the rubber plant. It gets watered every 25 days. I received a philodendron for my birthday, a fiddle leaf fig for Mother's Day, and I picked up a monstera on my own. Finally, in a particularly challenging season this summer, I picked up a large palm tree to sit in my living room. In the past year, my home has literally been filled with greenery and life, and thanks to a plant app, I've managed to keep them all alive (so far).

According to one website, indoor plants can help reduce stress, improve your mood, and reduce fatigue. They may also sharpen your attention and boost productivity, as well as help you recover from illness faster, while also improving the quality of indoor air, which can minimize the occurrence of headaches. Life leads to more and better life.

Today's psalm feels as if it was written by someone with a green thumb. I have yet to try transplanting plants, even with the aid of my apps. But the psalmist seems to understand what this "vine" would need to be transplanted out of bad soil into good and what environment it would need to flourish and live. The plant, in the psalm's case, is a metaphor for the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. This is a psalm of lament over the demise of Israel while asking God to show favour once more to His people. They had seen God, the ultimate Gardener, once bring life and protection to them so that their nation could flourish and grow and bear fruit. But this psalm is situated in a time when it felt like they were dying, being gnawed on and cut down.

Plants have died around me before. It can be so heartbreaking to know that at a certain point, there is nothing more I can do in my very limited knowledge to restore life to this plant. At some point, watering dry soil will just flood the pot instead of bringing greenery back to life. But God is Life and nothing is ever too dead for Him. Like the ultimate Green Thumb, everything touched by God is restored to life.

There is hope in this psalm because this vine that was cut down and burned with fire has a root that was established and planted by God. "Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name." (verses 17 & 18). For those of us reading this passage in Advent in the twenty-first century, we can notice the prophecy buried like a root in this verse. Jesus is the promised life that would come from this nation of Israel who would restore and bring life to all. Life leads to more and better life.

Maybe you feel like you've been cut down recently, or like you've stopped bearing fruit. Maybe the soil you're in feels dry or you haven't seen any growth in a while. Perhaps you feel unrooted or overwhelmed with a flooded pot. If you’re feeling any of these ways, then you're certainly not experiencing flourishing life. Know that you're not alone. In Advent, we recognize that even when everything feels dead, life is growing, even if it is below the surface of the soil.

What can you do? Try to plant yourself in good soil. Pray. Like this psalm, ask to be restored, for God to shine on you like the sun, for Him to plant you in the right place with the right protection. He is the Great Gardener. He is life and that life came as a baby to bring life to the whole world. Everything he touches is restored to life. Life leads to more and better life and that life that is available to you.

Reflect and Discuss

  • If you were a plant, what would the state of your roots and soil be? What about your growth and fruit? Allow this to guide your prayer time and ask God to heal and bring life to any of these areas.
  • If you consider soil as the environment you find yourself in often, is it healthy? Do you feel rooted in it? Is there a better place to root yourself? Make a plan for the coming year to root yourself in healthy soil where God is known to garden.

Pray
Lord God, our ultimate Gardener, restore us. Let your face shine on us. Transplant us to healthy soil, protect us from the elements, and may we grow closer to you.
Amen.

Advent in Action
As we prepare for Christmas we bring life into our homes, in the form of greenery and Christmas trees, either live or symbolic. If you still need to decorate or put up your tree, consider doing some of that today, recognizing the forever (evergreen) life offered to us through Christ’s coming. (Consider praying this Liturgy for Setting Up a Christmas Tree too).


More information about our Advent Prayer Challenge can be found here
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