The Persistence of Life

Hello friend!

Pull up a chair, grab a cuppa. For myself, I have a mug of my favourite peach tea.

Today, I'm going back to sharing what I'm grateful for. Yay for nothing major happening! Anyway, stick with me, because this is awesome!

So, a few months ago, I decided to plant some irises. I bought a packet of seeds and buried them in soil. The next day, I was given a bucket of uprooted irises from a different part of our garden. I replanted some of them, but left a few in the bucket. The intention was for those to die and then I'd compost them.

Except, that didn't happen.

Instead the plants in the bucket continued to thrive. When I went out to check on them all a week ago, I noticed something peculiar: one of the bucket irises had a bud on it! I checked the others: none of them had buds. Just this one plant that had been abandoned to die.

It took my breath away! The persistence of this plant, in continuing to grow and flower even though it wasn't planted in soil and it hadn't been watered in months! It was awe inspiring.

Not long afterwards, I was out to lunch with my grandparents. We were watching a flock of seagulls when one of them landed on the table next to us. We looked, then looked again in surprise: the seagull had only one leg!

I snapped a photo of it as soon as I could, then spent a solid five minutes watching this bird as it flew faster than all the others. It stole chips from tables when the others didn't dare come near. This one-legged bird was filled with sass and courage. And for the second time that day, I found myself wondering at the persistence of life.

And as I thought of this, I was reminded of these verses from Luke 12: 24-28

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you then the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothed the grace, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

Now, this has not miraculously cured my anxiety. And if you struggle with anxiety, please don't hear me say that you are somehow wrong, or less, or especially sinful. Anxiety, the kind I'm refering to anyway, is an actual medical disorder. It is part of the result of us being broken humans living in a broken world. God knows we are only dust (Psalm 103:14). I believe He understands the very real, battle with anxiety we face.

What I am saying, however, is that ultimately we can trust God. He is the God that sustains an unplanted iris and brings it to flower. He is the God that strengthens and feeds a one-legged seagull. He is the God who cares for us, in the most adverse of circumstances. Sometimes, that will mean dancing again after years of debilitating illness. Sometimes that will mean surviving overdose. And sometimes it will mean He decides to end our suffering by taking us home.

Whatever happens, we can be sure that God cares for us, and true life will persist in spite of every horror the world can through our way. Including death.

So, friends, please be encouraged. Please look to the Cross and the Resurrection: the promise and proof of forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting.

With love,
Laura Dee