That Little Plant in the Corner

A couple of years ago, I went to a herb workshop.  I am still not exactly sure why one would need to go to a workshop where you literally put all ready grown herbs in pots, water them, and then bring them home; but I paid my $25.oo and went to the herb workshop.  Along with cilantro, basil, and oregano (FYI, I proceeded to kill these plants in about two weeks time), I also was able to get a hanging strawberry basket.  My girls LOVE strawberries!  So, of course I was thinking I was going to be this GREAT and AWESOME  mom, who not only grew her own fresh and organic herbs, but would also have these incredible strawberries for her children.  I was gonna score some major wholesome mom points!

Well, not only did the herbs die (still not sure how I managed that one), the strawberries never really came to fruition. Well, the fruit came, but they were the tiniest little red berries, and there were only like five of them and one at a time.  The girls ate them and waited for more, but none came.  So, the strawberry plant sat out on our deck.  Getting sun and rain it was nice and green, but there were no more berries.  Then it started to turn brown and no one really looked at it anymore.  Occasionally, when one of the girls remembered they would give it some water but, for the most part it sat for the rest of the summer, into the fall, through the winter with no one giving it a second thought in the corner of our deck.  Forgotten.

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel forgotten?  I mean the type of day where you talk and no one listens; not your friends, not your kids (which happens more often than it doesn’t), not even your husband?  The kind of day where you feel like you could probably disappear and not a soul would notice.  There are days when I feel like I am standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming, trying to get someone’s….anyone’s attention, and life just goes on around me!  Sometimes, this feeling of being forgotten pushes its way into my heart and steals my focus.  I find myself asking God if He has forgotten me too!  Can He hear me?  Does He see me?  And I find myself feeling like that strawberry plant; just sitting in a corner where no one remembers me.  I am pretty sure I am not alone in this…..

Think about Ruth.  Her husband died.  She left her home.  She must have felt forgotten.  Then came Boaz.  I am pretty sure Hannah felt forgotten.  She prayed for years.  Then came Samuel.  What about Anna and Simeon at the temple.  They waited their entire lives; surely they had times when they felt like God had forgotten His promise.  Then came Jesus.

You know what happened last spring?  That strawberry plant came alive with all kinds of beautiful white flowers, and produced all kinds of big, juicy strawberries.  The girls thought that it was dead, and I had given up on it too.  What had been forgotten was now giving us all kinds of fruit!

Find encouragement in knowing that you are NOT forgotten.  You have the heart of the One who listens to every cry, hears every prayer, and sees every need.

This is the kind of love that doesn’t leave you behind even when you feel lost.

This is the love that will bring you into full blossom, bearing all kinds of fruit.

This love never forgets.