Weary Aloe

I looked at my scraggly aloe plant this morning and I felt her pain. Seated beside a chilly window, during the middle of a gray Illinois winter, she longs for the heat of the summer upon her green tentacles.

Looking at my once vibrant plant, it made me wonder. When I feel weary because my environment isn’t as comfortable or as suitable as I am accustomed, do I still flourish? Or do I wilt?

Do I depend upon externals for flourishing?

I believe there is a Master Gardener that takes care of all things. He takes care of my environment and when I look to Him, I can thrive, even when things in my world are not ideal. The droopy aloe plant made me consider, where does my strength come from: internally or externally?

I admit there are days and seasons I feel puny, like my sun-deprived aloe plant. When I feel droopy, I can begin to question my value. However when I burnt myself a week ago, I went running straight to my aloe plant. I didn’t think about how it looked, only that it spared me much pain. It has value and is still an aloe plant, droopy or not.

Isn’t it interesting that an image of an aloe plant, waiting by the window for the strength of the summer sunshine, can inspire? The image spoke to me much in the same way that Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 15 using a vine as a metaphor to convey the concept of abiding in Him.

When grafted into the vine, the graftee becomes one with the host plant. They have the same value because they are one.

Where does my value come from? It comes from the One who gave me value in the first place then rescued me to rest in Him forever.  My value does not diminish; nor ebb and flow. In plenty or want, or even fading away, by design my value remains.